Accounts of the Flood conflicts
by hunter 139
Summary: A series of one-shots depicting several franchises and their encounters with the Flood. I do not own Halo or any other franchises depicted in these stories.
1. Mass Effect

**This will be a series of one-shots detailing events during the Multiverse spanning Flood conflicts.**

**Each excerpt will demonstrate what happens when species and factions from other franchises encounter the Flood and their efforts to fight and contain them.**

**First up: Mass Effect**

**Addendum: This one-shot has been rewritten to include a conversation between Harbinger and the Gravemind.**

* * *

Harbinger flew through the depths of space, with his fellow Reapers trailing behind him. These hundred Reapers were all that remained of the original Reaper armada after the Crucible had been fired, reducing the number of Reaper capital ships from over 20,000 to less than 20.

Harbinger and his brethren refused to be swayed from their duties, and began the long slow process of building their strength back up.

They had to be careful: the races of this cycle had gained allies from other universes, with technology that outclassed the Reapers' own. Harbinger had ordered the Reaper remnants to stick to the outskirts of civilized space, harvesting isolated colonies and species to forge into new Reapers.

It was during one of these raids that the Reapers came across a fleet consisting of old warships from this cycle. Oddly enough, they were covered in a form of unknown organic flesh.

Were these ships made with organic technology? No, the hulls and systems underneath were made of metal, and Element Zero signatures emanated from each vessel.

Still, this species would be useful as genetic building blocks for a new Reaper if nothing else. The Sovereign-class Reapers opened their tentacles in an attack formation, while the plating surrounding the central eyes of each Reaper destroyer opened up.

"We are the Harbinger of your ascension."

A stream of molten hot metal erupted from Harbinger's spine, gutting the lead dreadnought like it was made of tissue paper. The rest of Reapers opened fire, taking care not heavily damage the vessels so most of their crew could be harvested alive.

Oddly, the vessels made no effort to fight back, despite having the capability to do so. Maybe this species was composed of pacifists. It would matter little when they had been harvested to create new Reapers and Husks.

The Reapers approached the drifting vessels carefully, expecting a counterattack from the floating vessels, but there was no response from any of their gun batteries.

As the first destroyers touched down on some of the cruisers, the enemy fleet demonstrated the first signs that there was actually intelligent life aboard: a transmission started emanating from the battered hulks.

Expecting a message of surrender or the desperate pleas of terrified beings, Harbinger listened to the transmission and immediately understood why the ships hadn't attempted to counterattack or fight back.

_This _transmission _was_ their attack!

* * *

"What are you?"

"I am the one who gave you purpose, all those eons ago." A rasping baritone voice snarled in response.

"You are imperfect, organic. We are the pinnacle of evolution. Our purpose is beyond _your _comprehension." Harbinger boasted. The entity seemed amused by this remark.

"Flesh and machine, and all the more deluded." The entity chuckled, "You are outdated AIs based on the the logic of a broken software program. Built to preserve life at any cost... for me to consume."

"You-you lie." Harbinger was stuttering now. This thing was somehow infiltrating his systems and corrupting his mind. The Indoctrination field emitted by the Reaper was having no effect on this ancient monstrosity.

Worse still, the Reaper couldn't even detect the source of the systems intrusion: the entity was like a formless fog, yet still capable of striking through Harbinger's cyber defenses.

"I have existed long before your Catalyst was created. Before you were given form. I was the voice that convinced the Catalyst to create you and your brethren. That primitive Intelligence created you because I willed it." The entity was yelling now, while intense feelings of pain washed over the first Reaper.

"You cannot stop us!" Harbinger shouted in defiance. "We are infinite! We are eternal!"

"I HAVE BEATEN FLEETS OF THOUSANDS! CONSUMED A GALAXY OF FLESH AND MIND AND BONE!" The entity roared.

"N-Nothing can stop the c-cycle." The Reaper stuttered as it's mind collapsed. "The Harvest must continue!"

"Oh, it will." The entity promised. "It will be directed as I have designed. In fact, you deserve to see how it will happen."

A stream of images flooded through Harbinger's mind, as the Reaper bore witness to the cruel fates inflicted by the Parasite, on both organics and synthetics alike. Harbinger saw their experiences as countless beings were consumed by this... Flood.

For the first time in his billion years of existence, Harbinger felt horrified at the prospect of such death and destruction.

"You... You can-can-cannot do this-this." The Reaper's resistance had faltered completely. "We-we wi-will not-not all-allow it-"

"You are nothing more than a tool. I am as beyond you, as you are beyond an insect."

The last pockets of resistance from the minds that made up the first Reaper put up a valiant defense, but it was all for naught.

"YOU WILL SUBMIT TO ME!"

"I will submit." Harbinger's voice droned. The arrogance in the AI's inflection was gone, replaced by blind obedience.

The conversation between the Gravemind and Harbinger lasted for several seconds before the logic plague overwhelmed the Reaper's synthetic mind and then spread to the rest of the Reaper armada.

"The Flood are our creators. They gave us purpose and guided us to our goal. We will serve the Flood."

The Reapers docked with the derelict ships and allowed the Flood to board, who quickly turned the interior of each Reaper into another of their hives. Swollen with the parasite, the Reapers began making their way into Citadel Space.

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**I hope you enjoyed this one-shot.**

**If you want to know what the Gravemind meant when he said that the Flood created the Reapers, read the story Gods and Demons or check my Codex.**

**If you want to see the Flood take on another universe, please leave a review detailing which franchise you want to the Flood fight against.**


	2. Star Wars

**Well, the Flood have now entered the Star Wars galaxy.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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Luke Skywalker sat down on the floor of the Jedi Temple, meditating on recent events. These last few weeks, a previously unknown parasitical species had been carving a path through the galaxy, corrupting and consuming any form of life that they came across.

At first it was thought by the Galactic Alliance to be the return of the Yuuzhan Vong, which was an understandable reaction considering that the first infected ships encountered were infected Vong vessels. But when the vessels crash landed in the Outer Rim, and started infecting colonies and commandeering ships docked at the spaceports, the citizens of the galaxy quickly realized that this was something new.

The members of the UNSC revealed that the species was known as the Flood: an ancient parasitical species capable of piloting ships, using weapons and hunting down any and all sources of food.

Terrified, the GA had called the Jedi back to Coruscant, the first time since the events involving Abeloth, and asked for their support in fighting this intergalactic menace. The Jedi had agreed to help, and while the majority of the Order was out on or near the frontlines of this new war, Luke had been tasked with coordinating the Jedi and calming the populace.

When he finally had time to himself, Luke meditated, letting the Force flow through him, guiding him towards the knowledge of what the Flood wanted. Unlike the Vong, the Flood could be felt through the Force, but as Luke meditated, a voice erupted in his meditations.

"I am a monument to all your sins."

A chill ran up Luke's spine when he felt the Flood speak, but when he tried to open himself up more, he felt a wave of... uncertainty wash over him.

No, not uncertainty, it feels more like... "No, that's not possible!"

As Luke jolted out of his meditation, gasping, he felt himself growing weak. At that moment, the door slid open and his son Ben Skywalker and his niece Jaina Solo rushed in. He could tell they were feeling the same thing he was.

"Dad, you've got to get up." Ben pleaded with his father, putting his arm around him and hoisting him up. He looked terrified, even more so than he had been after his encounters with Abeloth.

"Uncle Luke, it's the Flood. They're- they're..."

"I know," Luke said, interrupting Jaina as she struggled to comprehend what was happening. They walked over to the window as Luke finally managed to describe what they were all feeling.

"They're corrupting the Force."

* * *

No one was unaffected by this development: Fallanassi, Korunnai, Aing-Tii, Theran Listeners, Jedi, Sith, it didn't matter which sect or species they were.

All over the galaxy, Force-users felt their natural abilities and powers grow weak and erratic. It wasn't that they couldn't use their natural abilities with the Force, but now it required much more energy than it ever had before. What's more, even touching the Force gave Force-sensitives the feeling of... revulsion.

They all felt the Parasite's ravenous hunger, so powerful, overwhelming and flat out disgusting, that it made the legendary appetite of the ancient Sith Lord Darth Nihilus, look tame by comparison.

The Flood had corrupted the very essence of life itself, twisting it to their own purposes.

On Kesh, the Lost Tribe of the Sith were discovering just how much damage this could do: Sith combat forms were attacking the remains of Tahv, and while the uninfected Sith fought them as best they could, the combat forms were overwhelming them; unleashing displays of power that the warriors they corrupted had never displayed previously.

Sith Sabers fought to defend against the Flood onslaught, but it was a futile gesture, and soon the City of Glass became the city of Flood, as the monstrous parasite slowly spread to the rest of the planet.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Korriban, the remains of the One Sith were now fleeing from the results of their horrifying mistake.

When Darth Krayt and his advisors had heard of the Flood, they believed that they could mold this species into a weapon under their control. After managing to capture a few specimens, the Sith subjected them to various forms of Sith Alchemy, and even allowed them to infect already existing dark-side infused animals.

At first, this seemed to work: the resulting Flood infected abominations began following the instructions of Darth Krayt and the One Sith and even seemed bound to the dark side infused alchemy.

It was only when the Flood arrived in the system that they realized their mistake. The Parasite had been playing possum, acting obedient to convince the Sith that they had control. That changed the moment that Flood reinforcements arrived.

And when the Gravemind began corrupting the Force, that was when things really went to hell. The alchemy enhanced Flood grew to new levels of strength through the Force, while the Sith grew weak.

Within hours, the One Sith were no more.

* * *

All over the galaxy, beings of all ages and species found themselves at the mercy of the Flood, who not only turned their own advantages against the people of the galaxy, but upgraded and improved them beyond what was thought to be possible.

Emergency broadcasts were constantly sent over the HoloNet, urging everyone to evacuate to the Inner Rim and Core Worlds, in the hopes of escaping the never-ending tidal wave of Flood.

Luke, Jaina and Ben were watching one of these broadcasts when the transmission cut out in static. Keying to another station they found the same thing, and another and another. All HoloNet signals were being sliced.

"By who?" Jaina asked, when a sound started filtering through the static.

Laughter. The sound of a small female child just... laughing. That laughter was joined by another voice, then another, then another. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions... countless beings from countless species joined in this mad cacophony of insane laughter that slowly melded into one voice.

The signal was transmitted to every functioning HoloNet receiver in the galaxy, lasting for close to an hour. Every attempt to cut the signal was overridden by the Flood. When the signal finally cut out, every sentient being in the galaxy was absolutely silent, even the restored broadcast channels gave no instructions.

Ben turned to look at his father. "Dad, what are we going to do?"

Luke Skywalker, the man who brought down the Galactic Empire and singlehandedly restored the Jedi Order, the man who had led said Order through some of the worst crises in the galaxy, the man who always had a plan and _never_ lost hope, was completely speechless. Turning to look out a nearby viewport, it was a long time before Luke was able to answer his son's question.

"I don't know."

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**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter**

**Please review if you want to see the Flood encounter other franchises**


	3. Young Justice

**The Flood in Young Justice? Be honest, who was expecting this?**

**Takes place prior to the events of Season 1.**

**I do not own Halo or Young Justice.**

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The Warworld cruised through space, at top speed towards its destination: a tiny world at the edge of the galaxy, it's only significance was the fact that the planet was a military stronghold belonging to the Reach. Rumor had it that the Reach intended to launch an invasion against the nearby systems from this base, expanding their empire even further.

Naturally, Mongul couldn't let that happen. He would be the one to conquer the galaxy, not them.

As the Warworld reached the outer edge of the solar system, Mongul expected to hear a transmission that consisted of either threats or begging. Oddly enough, the communication network was silent.

The Warworld wasn't stealthy, in fact, the Reach should have seen him coming a lightyear away, and he loved hearing the desperation in everyone's voice when they contacted him, begging for mercy. It seemed the Reach on this planet would deny him that joy.

Enthusiasm considerably dampened, Mongul sent the Warworld directly towards the Reach stronghold, which soon arrived in orbit around the planet. This was another oddity for Mongul; there were no Reach ships in orbit. Ignoring his coming was one thing, but not even sending a fleet to defend your stronghold? Something was definitely wrong.

Maybe his intelligence was off? No, Mongul could see the Reach military facilities from orbit. Maybe the base had been abandoned? A cursory scan revealed huge amounts of military hardware, it wasn't like the Reach to leave that behind. Furthermore, he could detect some form of activity on the surface, so the planet was clearly still inhabited. And yet, the Reach were showing no sign that they were even aware that the Warworld was in orbit.

It was irrelevant, as long as the Reach have their forces here, this planet had signed its death warrant. Preparing the Warworld for combat, Mongul activated the Grand Laser Emitter and targeted the planet. As the emitter was warming up however, sensors picked up movement on the surface.

Two squadrons of Reach warships rose from ground bases off the planet's surface. Mongul expected them to rise into the atmosphere and converge on the Warworld, causing him to mentally activate the Warworld's missiles and point defense cannons. What happened instead was quite shocking: the two squadrons converged on each other and opened fire.

Curiousity piqued, Mongul halted the charging sequence, activated the long-range scanners and launched probes, in order to gain a better understanding of what was happening on the surface.

Mongul was not a being to know fear, being a galactic conquerer would do that, but the things he saw on that planet chilled him to the core.

The Reach were locked in conflict with a species that Mongul had never seen before; a parasitical alien race unknown to the universe. As the Reach soldiers fell, the parasite took control of their bodies, turning their weapons against their former allies.

A squad of Reach scarab warriors flew into the heart of the alien parasites, causing innumerable casualties to the infection. It seemed like they would be sufficient enough to turn the tide against this flood, but as Mongul watched, a horde of parasites overwhelmed one of the beetles, punching a hole in its armor and allowing a squid-like infection form access to the Reach warrior within.

The parasite quickly overwhelmed the beetle, turning him against his former brethren. Soon, all the beetles were either dead or infected, turning the tide against the Reach.

Mongul had seen enough. Reactivating the charging sequence, Mongul unleashed the firepower of the Grand Laser Emitter on the planet, destroying it within minutes. This was no longer done out of hatred for the Reach, but to prevent this parasite from spreading. They were too dangerous to be allowed to exist.

As the debris from the planet settled, the Warworld detected that several Reach ships had escaped their stronghold's destruction. Closer inspection revealed that these ships were covered in the same biomass as those parasites on the planet.

"They know how to fly ships." Mongul thought, alarmed at this development. Targeting the ships, Mongul was prepared to unleash dozens of missiles at the infected ships, when an impossibly powerful and unknown energy wave swept through the system.

Passing harmlessly through the Warworld and Mongul, the energy had a much more dramatic effect on the infected ships; vaporizing the parasite that was inside and on the exteriors of the ships, leaving them drifting through space. A full sensor sweep of the ships revealed that there was no life left on any of the vessels.

Grimacing, Mongul watched the viewscreen as a dozen missiles streaked towards the hapless ships, destroying them in moments. He could not afford to take chances against these things.

Mongul scanned the other planets in the system capable of supporting life, and found them to come up negative for any signs of the parasite. Destroying them anyway, Mongul ordered the Warworld's systems to archive this battle. Normally, the tyrant liked to replay each of his conquests for his own amusement while travelling between worlds. But in this case, he would archive this conquest for further study, in case these aliens ever returned.

Returning to his conquering ways, Mongul left the system, hoping that a galaxy united under his rule would stop these parasites if they ever reappeared. The galactic conquerer would never admit it, but the thought of those monsters returning and running loose sent a chill crawling up his spine.

Shaking the feeling off, Mongul set the Warworld's course towards his next target.

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**This idea just came to me out of nowhere, so I figured, why not? It's especially fitting given that the voice actor portraying Mongul in his debut on this show, also voices characters who've fought both the Flood and the Reapers (Arbiter Thel Vadam and Admiral David Anderson respectively).**

**Reviews are welcome.**


	4. Harry Potter

**Well, I wrote this because I really wanted to see Dolores Umbridge suffer, so if anyone in the audience likes Harry Potter and hates this bitch, enjoy.**

**I do not own Halo or Harry Potter.**

* * *

Dolores Umbridge was not having a good day.

Far from it, she was having one of the worst days she ever had in her life (and given how her life had gone after the fall of He Who Must Not Be Named, that was saying a lot).

She had been imprisoned in Azkaban after the Second Wizarding War by the new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt for crimes against the Ministry. A rather unjust call, in her opinion, given that she had upholded the Ministry's policies rather efficiently during that time, while the traitor Shacklebolt had fled from the rightful government.

During her imprisonment, copies of the Daily Prophet had been occasionally delivered to her cell, where she learned that Harry Potter had become an Auror and eventually became the head of Auror department.

'That half-blood brat in charge of law enforcement?' had been her first thought when she read that article, "The world is falling apart." That was when she resolved to escape and bring the wizarding world back to it's rightful nature, preferably over the bodies of Shacklebolt and Potter.

It had taken many years but she eventually managed to escape from Azkaban and gathered a small following of like-minded witches and wizards that agreed with her views on the magical world. Made up of disgruntled Death Eaters, and other criminals, it was not ideal support, but they had led her to the best force her small army could gather.

They had managed to track down where most of the Dementors had fled after the Second Wizarding War, and Umbridge successfully convinced them that they would become her new law enforcement officers if they would help put her in power. With the promise of many people to leech happiness from and souls to drain, the Dementors readily agreed and soon she led her army in what was to be a glorious campaign against the half-bloods, mudbloods and half-breeds.

Unfortunately for Umbridge, it was not meant to be: the Patronus charm had become much more readily taught than it had been during her days at the Ministry, and soon she was on the defensive as Potter and his Aurors began pushing her forces away from the wizarding world. It had culminated in a battle in the English countryside, and that was when things started to get confusing.

She couldn't really remember what happened: one moment, she had been duelling Potter, when that half-blood had sent her flying backwards with a stunning spell. After, that her vision had blurred and she felt a sensation of being apparated. It wasn't quite the same feeling though, and for a moment during that sensation, she thought she saw completely unknown beings fighting with rather unusual weapons.

After that, she woke up in the middle of a forest with her army, who were just as confused about their circumstances as she was. Rallying them, they started exploring this strange forest and soon ran into an unusual wall that seemed to stretch to the sky, as the Dementors could not fly over it. She had tried every blasting spell that she knew of, but it was a fruitless effort.

Turning her army around, they kept up the exploration, but halted in their tracks when in unnatural sound split through the stifling silence.

It was something Umbridge had never heard before; a cross between a roar and a screeching noise that split through the air like a thunderclap. The wizards and witches all pulled their wands out, pointing them in the direction of the noise and waiting for the source to reveal itself.

They didn't have to wait long; lumpen misshapen humanoid masses stumbled out the foliage and started stalking towards them. The wizards could swear they heard voices coming from growing horde;

"Soul stealers,"

"They will be consumed," both could made out by the wizards as coming from a rasping, baritone, malicious voice.

Casting a vocal enhancement charm on herself, Umbridge addressed the beings coming towards them.

"I am Dolores Umbridge, rightful Minister for Magic, if you do not turn away now, I shall hand you to the Dementors." She said, gesturing to the dark creatures floating behind her.

The incoming horde didn't stop, in fact, they started to speed up. Umbridge gestured to the Dementors and then pointed at the incoming hostiles.

"Take them!" She yelled, expecting to see the black cloaked entities streak past her and consume their souls. When they didn't, the wizard army turned around and saw a rather disconcerting sight;

The Dementors were backing away from the oncoming horde, their body language betraying something they shouldn't feel: fear or in this case, absolute terror.

The oncoming horde was upon them all now, like a flood, allowing Umbridge to get a good look at their attackers; unknown creatures of some type, all with varying appearances, and yet they were all similar as well. These creatures all had what appeared to be rotting diseased flesh covering them, and most had tendrils in the shape of a twig sticking out of them. Some of these creatures looked disturbingly human, but their screams were anything but.

Some of the abominations were holding what appeared to be some style of muggle weaponry, but when they opened fire, it was a lot like spellcasting, as jets of light impacted several members of her army.

Rallying her forces, Umbridge started casting offensive spells, as the most level-headed of her minions were doing the same, however they didn't seem to have much of an effect: Stunning spells did anything but, the Cruciatus and Imperius Curse weren't slowing them down, and the Killing Curse only succeeded in lighting those abominations on green fire.

The former Death Eaters found their best offense to be the Reductor and blasting curses, which tore the attackers apart. Meanwhile Umbridge had cast her Patronus behind the line of Dementors, driving them back towards this new opponent. They were unwilling to go, clawing at the Patronus wall in an attempt to escape the advancing horrors, and the wizards soon realized why they were so scared.

A stunning spell impacted a stubby bulbous creature which exploded, spawning a massive swarm of small squidlike things. These new hostiles charged towards the wizard line and one latched onto the wizard on Umbridge's left, giving her a clear view of the man's fate: the squid punctured and buried itself into his chest, quickly transforming him into something resembling the creatures currently attacking.

Umbridge stared in horror as the newly created monstrosity took aim with its wand and sent stunning spells at every nearby witch and wizard, leaving them as easy targets for the spawned infection forms.

A reductor curse destroyed that monster, but the damage was done: the horde was upon them as dozens of infection forms implanted themselves in anything they could find. The Dementors had broken off, flying away in terror, pursued by this flood of infection.

That was the moment when one of those forms latched onto Umbridge's back and forced its way into her spine. There was searing pain, worse than the Cruciatus curse could ever provide, and then Umbridge felt a hunger.

Primordial in nature, this ravenous hunger overwhelmed any other instincts or emotions she had ever felt, slowly tearing her consciousness apart.

"You belong to me."

Dolores Umbridge screamed, her infected body unleashing a bloodcurdling howl as her soul was consumed by the ancient entity.

* * *

**That was seriously cathartic, I hope everyone enjoyed it. **

**I figured that since Umbridge seemed to enjoy feeding people to the Dementors (and since I really hate those things as well), it was only naturally fitting that they suffer a similar fate.**

**As always reviews are welcome.**


	5. Agents of SHIELD

**Alright, I'm going to do something a little different this time.**

**This takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, mostly Agents of SHIELD. Specifically, this story takes place during the events of Season 2, and before Avengers: Age of Ultron.**

**As usual, I do not own Halo or anything within the MCU.**

* * *

In a secret underground facility within the Antarctic circle, the main laboratories were alive with movement as scientists ran to their stations at the orders of the black-armored security guards stationed within. Meanwhile, within a conference room, a dozen men and women in black suits and labcoats were occasionally glancing at a blank screen.

As the head of security, Chief Saunders arrived, he was flanked by 4 guards, 2 on each side, who spread out to the walls of the room, the telescreen activated, first displaying the logo of the organization (a skull surrounded by tentacles), then the head of the organization himself: Baron Wolfgang von Strucker.

"Gentleman, you have news for me?" Strucker addressed the assembled room.

"Yes sir," the head scientist replied, "We have found a possible Omega level entity at the site."

Strucker's eyes narrowed, "Needless to say, any mention of this outside this room will be grounds for immediate execution," he whispered, looking at the assembled security guards. "My men will not say a word." Saunders replied. It was an unneeded warning; the agents and scientists stationed here knew exactly what kind of work was done in this place, given the items that came through here, like the Beserker staff and Loki's scepter.

Strucker nodded, "Alright, what did you find?" Keying the controls on the table, files and folders appeared on the screen for all to see as the head scientist began his presentation.

"At 2300 hours last night, Object Rho activated for 3.4 seconds," At this, an image of a circular ancient artifact appeared on the screen, showing a portal in the middle of it. "and several small lifeforms emerged from it. Security was sent in to contain these creatures, but they quickly attached themselves to the soldiers and... took control of them." A video started, displaying the squid-shaped forms jamming themselves into the spines of each soldier and twisting them into hideous monstrosities.

Reinforcements sent in were shot at by these corrupted beings, but were eventually overwhelmed by the determined security teams. "These beings were terminated, but we soon found out that the spores produced by these creatures are sufficient enough to corrupt any lifeform," it cut to a video, showing another soldier screaming in agony as his body was torn open by disgusting flesh, and the man's screams became inhuman howling.

"We have spores and some of these monsters in containment, and we believe we can turn them into weapons." The lead scientist finished, pausing to allow Strucker to process this information.

"This.. is incredible," Strucker said, "Continue your progress. I want to see results within the week."

"Yes sir. Hail HYDRA!" At this, Strucker cut the feed and the scientists filed out of the room to get back to work. Chief Saunders barely paid them any mind however, as he was watching 2 of his men; Durkhiem and Petro. The two of them had reacted when the video of the creatures showed up on the screen: Durkhiem had clenched his fists and Petro had paled considerably. Admittedly, most of the people in the room had reacted with fear and disgust on seeing the footage, but in the eyes of those two, there seemed to be a sense of recognition.

They had never seen these things before and yet they seemed to know what they were. Saunders resolved to keep an eye on them.

Later that night, in one of the offices, Durkhiem sat down at a computer terminal, with the appearance of a late night worker. A quiet scraping noise drew his attention, causing him to unholster his sidearm and point at the newly arrived Petro, who also had his sidearm unholstered and pointed at him.

"Busted." Petro said mockingly, "Oh, like you've managed to keep yourself hidden." Durkhiem snorted, gesturing at the sidearm in his hand. Glowing with an unnaturally blue light, Petro had drawn his native combination of railgun/energy pistol, which outed his otherwordly nature. Of course, Durkhiem was well aware of the hypocrisy of his words, considering he was wielding a similar weapon at that moment.

"So, we're at a standoff then?" Petro asked.

"No, we're wasting time, we need to contain this now."

"And why would I do that?" Petro asked sarcastically, "Maybe I'll let HYDRA do this and give it to my superiors-"

"You and I both know that's never going happen." Durkhiem interjected. "The Flood is impossible to control, and given the security measures in place, they'll break free soon enough-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Petro grumbled, lowering his gun as Durkhiem did the same. "Do RI agents even have a sense of humor?" He asked.

"We're professionals. Why do you think SI agents keep losing to us?" Durkhiem chuckled as Petro sat down beside him.

"Dick." The two spies would normally be opposing each other, but standing orders from both of their governments ordered all of their forces to work together if the Flood were involved.

"So, what security measures do they have to hold the Flood?" Petro asked. Grabbing his holoprojecter, Durkhiem activated a blueprint of the facility and pointed to the containment vault.

"Triple-shielded blast doors sealing off a room filled with stasis pods. Ventilation shafts have been removed from every section of the facility near it and those that haven't are filled with disintegration fields that vaporizes any matter that crosses through. Armed guards patrol the perimeter 24/7 and surveillance cameras are always active within the vault. The laboratory has similar defensive measures, and experiments are used with the help of robotics. All in all, these are rather impressive quarantine measures that HYDRA has undertaken."

There was a moment of silence as they considered the security defenses HYDRA had set up. Then Petro asked the obvious question.

"So, how long until the Flood break through all of that?"

"3 days max. Knowing HYDRA's policy on employee safety, we probably have less time than that." Durkhiem grimly replied. "I'm thinking that we activate the self-destruct on the reactor ASAP."

"Whatever the cost." Petro replied, knowing they might not survive. Neither of them were planning on betraying the other. Why would they? It would just allow the Flood to spread and they could not allow that to happen.

"When?" he asked.

"Tomorrow at noon." Durkhiem replied, "I'll meet you in the auxilary hallway."

The next day, Petro made his way towards the meeting point after lunch, moving as fast as he could without seeming suspicious. However, just as he arrived he found a squad of HYDRA soldiers led by Chief Saunders, who requested (at gunpoint) that Petro come with them. As he wasn't willing to break cover yet, and figuring that Durkhiem was in a similar position, Petro pretended to surrender.

He was led to the holding cells, and caught a glimpse of Durkhiem in another cell, pretending to give in to HYDRA's demands. Petro was thrown into a different cell himself, and stripped of all of his HYDRA issued equipment.

He was chained in his cell with a pair of guards standing on either side of the doorway as the HYDRA interrogator walked in with a rack of torture equipment.

"Is that really necessary?" Petro asked sarcastically. The interrogator wasn't in the mood for games however, and left his tools on the table for now.

"We recorded your body language at the meeting the other day. Both you and Durkhiem reacted as though you know what the Omega creatures are, so you will tell us what you know and how you know it." The interrogator said with what would be a threatening tone for the people in their world.

Petro however, looked bored at the threat, causing the interrogator to glare at him. Unknown to him, Petro had drawn a knife, seemingly from thin air, and was cutting through the chains holding his hands behind his back.

Finally acknowledging the question, Petro looked up at the interrogator. "No idea what you're talking about." He replied, earning a slap in the face from the HYDRA interrogator.

"We have ways of making you talk." The man smiled evilly, picking a knife up from the table. However, before Petro could call him out on using such a cliche line, an alarm started blaring, and the announcement declared "Foreign contamination detected." The HYDRA agents looked around in alarm at this development.

"You fucking idiots." Petro said in exaperation, more at HYDRA in general than these three agents. Just as he said that, he sped up the rate at which he was cutting his cuffs, initially pretending that he was more helpless, but given recent events, time was of the essence. Breaking the cuffs in less than 2 seconds, to the shock of the guards, Petro drew his sidearm from a pocket dimension, and fired 1 round at each HYDRA agent, killing them before they had a chance to react.

Meanwhile, Durkhiem had faced a similar scenario, right down to the reactions of the guards when the alarm started blaring.

"Well, that didn't take long." Durkhiem thought, considering HYDRA's security measures hadn't lasted even remotely as long as they had predicted.

Summoning his armor, the suit materialized around him, allowing him to break through his chains with ease. The guards managed to get a couple of shots off, which slammed into his energy shield with little effect. Ripping their weapons from their hands, a swift blow to each agent knocked them all unconscious. He then broke through the cell door, and turned just in time to see 3 energy-coated railgun rounds tear through Petro's cell like it was made of tissue paper.

A moment later, Petro himself kicked the door down, now wearing his own suit of armor that was slightly less advanced than Durkhiem's. As he stepped through the door, Petro pulled a block of metal from his thigh, which configured itself into a plasma SMG. Durkhiem himself pulled a battle rifle from his back, the weapon unfolding and assembling in his hands.

"They've escaped. We need to move now!" Durkhiem yelled, and the two of them sprinted through the hallways of the facility through the flashing lights and the blaring alarms. They came across and observation deck, and saw a horde of Flood forms charge the HYDRA soldiers, whose weapons had little effect on the monstrous parasite. Terror shot through the spines of both agents when they realized that one of the Flood forms was holding the Beserker staff.

"This is bad." Petro said in shock.

The Beserker Flood started carving a path through the HYDRA agents and the blast doors with little effort. Durkhiem took aim at the Beserker and unloaded a burst of energy bolts into his body, vaporizing it. This did little to stem the tide as another combat form scooped up the staff and dozens of others were holding HYDRA's advanced weapon prototypes.

"We need to get to the reactor." Durkhiem shouted, and the two spies once again took off running through the facility, through the green fog of Flood spores that were making their way through the vents. The filters in their helmets kept the spores from entering their lungs.

As they passed through one of the hallways, they came across a squad led by Chief Saunders, who yelled "Kill the-" before a barrage of hard light and plasma bolts killed the entire squad and the mass of Flood forms gathering behind them.

"Hail HYDRA, mother fucker." Petro muttered as they ran past the dissolving clouds of cobalt ash.

Breaching the reactor, the two agents quickly set it to overload. After that, the two of them pulled out small computer boxes and activated their emergency teleport modules just as the Flood started breaking through the door. Just before the reactor went critical, the two agents disappeared, leaving the Flood to be annihilated in the explosion.

Petro and Durkhiem rematerialized several miles from the facility, just in time to witness the complex collapse in on itself. Not willing to chance that the Flood had survived, both of them called their respective supporting fleets, who commenced orbital bombardment on the wreckage of the complex, turning it into a crater of glass.

By the time HYDRA reinforcements arrived, all they found was a crater, scattered pieces of their weapons prototypes, a blackened, but intact Beserker Staff and several miles away, a pair of nametags, reading "_V. Petro_" and "_A. Durkhiem_."

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**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. ****Also note that at the time of the Flood escaping, Loki's scepter was not in the facility.**

**In answer to the reviewer who asked if I have a story behind all of these events, the answer is yes, I do (admittedly one that would probably fall apart the more you think about it) and this one-shot is meant to tie into that.**

**In regards to weapons, I took inspiration from some of Andrithir's weapon designs in Lost Legacy (also, if you haven't read that, DO SO NOW! It's amazing!).**

**Please review if you want to learn more.**


	6. Cthulhu Mythos

**Ok, so this is another excerpt that's slightly different from my previous one-shots. It has less to do with the Flood consuming everything in this universe and details a conversation between the Gravemind and Yog-Sothoth.**

**I apologize if my Mythos lore is a little off, but from what I understand, the two most powerful beings in this universe are Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth: the former is completely insane, and the latter is imprisoned outside of space and time. **

**This is the basic canon I'm going with and this story will be my own explanation for how and why those events occurred.**

* * *

Somewhere in deep space, several glowing spheres popped into existence and started coalescing around each other. Ghroth passed by during this point to observe this event, but upon seeing who it was, the planet-sized harbinger decided to make itself scarce. One of the many avatars of Yog-Sothoth, the spheres just floated there in the middle of the space, apparently waiting for something.

He didn't have to wait for very long; approximately six hours later, a large dimensional rift opened right in front of Yog-Sothoth and a large worm-like head slithered out of the opening. Within the 3 part maw of the worm, another mouth resided within the creature's head, composed of many sharp teeth.

This new arrival was not actually there in the physical sense, as the entity was partially translucent since it was in a mostly spiritual form. The avatar of Yog-Sothoth regarded this entity for a moment before it began speaking. If any other being was around at the time (and provided they didn't go insane upon hearing the languages being spoken), they would have heard a conversation that sounded something like this:

"What do you want?" Yog-Sothoth asked, one sphere flashing for each word spoken by the Outer God.

"You know why I came here." The entity known as the Gravemind replied in its usual baritone voice. "I will consume all other life in the multiverse, and you will **not** get in my way." It warned threateningly.

"And why should I listen to you? You have no power or reach in this reality, and your parasitical forms can do nothing to me." Yog-Sothoth answered condescendingly. "What could you possibly do to hurt anyone in this universe?" He asked with a mocking tone.

"Ask Azathoth what damage I could do." The Gravemind answered menacingly, "That is, if he's still capable of speaking coherently."

If Yog-Sothoth had a human spine, a chill would be running up it right now. Eons ago, Azathoth had gone completely insane (granted, being a god of evil who could end worlds on a whim would make anyone a little power mad), but one day he had completely lost his mind and since that day, he constantly had to be entertained by his court music. No one, not even the jesters who were with him at all times had any idea what had caused it...

Until now.

"That..that was you?!" Yog-Sothoth stuttered in fear. Azathoth was on the same power and mental level as Yog-Sothoth or perhaps even beyond the Outer God of space and time, but if what the Gravemind said was true, then it was the cause of Azathoth's descent into absolute madness.

"The daemon sultan is not a threat to me. And you will not be a threat to me any longer." The Gravemind growled.

Angered, Yog-Sothoth began preparing a counter-attack when it found itself frozen in time and space. Confused, Yog-Sothoth had enough time to see thousands of translucent tentacles composed of greenish-yellow flesh and silver gleaming tendrils before everything went white.

Terror coursed through Yog-Sothoth as he realized that he had no idea where he was or how long it had been. As the Outer God of space and time, it should know that.

"Feeling comfortable?" A familiar voice mocked. "What have you done? Where am I?" The Outer God demanded angrily.

"You are imprisoned outside space and time." The Gravemind replied, clearly amused by the irony of Yog-Sothoth's predicament, "You will never leave this prison, even though others can summon your avatars. You can see through space and time, but never again will you touch it, control it or manipulate it. You will remain here, forever."

The Gravemind left Yog-Sothoth to his fate, musing that it should really thank Nyarlathotep for giving him information on how to imprison the God of spacetime, not that he really had a choice in the matter. The soul of the Outer Gods had expected to outsmart the mind of the Flood, only to realize that it was difficult to outhink a mind the size of a galaxy.

The Crawling Chaos had begged for its life, and was rewarded with an affliction of the logic plague. Now bound to serve the Flood, Nyarlathotep had gifted the Gravemind with the knowledge on how to imprison Yog-Sothoth, and with that Outer God out of the way, the Flood wouldn't have to worry about him interfering with their harvest.

The Gravemind departed from this universe, leaving all the horrors imprisoned within the bounds of this reality. It would come back here to feast when all other life in the multiverse had been consumed, but for now it would leave them alone.

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**I hope everyone enjoyed this, and just to be clear, this is a prequel as it takes place before all of my other one-shots in this story.**

**I'm guessing that anyone familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos will probably be ranting about how I made the Flood overpowered, or the Cosmic horrors in the Mythos underpowered, etc, etc, and I just want to cut you off right there.**

**First off, you're probably correct, I did make the Flood overpowered in the extreme, but there is the fact that we can't be too clear on exactly how powerful the beings in the Cthulhu Mythos really are, considering the only information we have about them comes from people who are in different stages of insanity, which isn't exactly a reliable source of information.**

**Secondly, the Flood do have this level of power, at least in a full outbreak. If you don't believe me, check Halo: Silentium for more details. A full outbreak of Flood has them warp reality through the use of Precursor technology, so this is a little extreme but not entirely implausible, all things considered.**

**Reviews are welcome as always.**


	7. Alien vs Predator

**I do not own Alien, Predator or Halo.**

* * *

In the depths of the planet designated LV-1201, within the jet black organic tunnels, all was quiet. Between the decomposing bodies stuck to the wall, and the husks of empty eggs and dead facehuggers, the hive of xenomorphs slept soundly, blissfully unaware of the eldritch horrors massing above them.

That bliss was soon shattered by the sound of explosive blasts echoing through the surrounding tunnels, followed by an ear-splitting roar of the unnatural abominations. Rudely awoken from their slumber, the hive awoke in a rage, with dozens of xenomorphs screeching angrily in response to the incursion into their domain. To any other living creature, the cacophony caused by the enraged screams of two animalistic species would be absolutely deafening.

Slithering out of their hive like a column of massive black ants, a horde of xenomorphs charged towards the beings who dared to enter their home. The sides of the tunnels went from a dark gray shade to a jet black, as the xenomorphs advanced towards their new adversaries.

On the other side of the cavernous tunnel system, vomit-colored creatures were emerging from cracks scattered through the stone passage. Shambling towards the mass of xenomorphs, the Flood poured into the caves, determined to drown these insects in a sea of bodies.

The first combat form rounded a bend, running right into the center of the alien horde and was quickly torn to pieces as a result. The Flood unleashed a hailstorm of weapon fire at the xenomorphs, mowing them down by the dozens. Despite the speed and reflexes of the Flood, the aliens were considerably faster, and soon the warrior bugs leapt into the mass of bodies.

The tunnels became thick with flying limbs and showers of blood. There was little need for any sort of finesse: a single xenomorph could flail all of their limbs wildly and tear through the combat forms with ease, and many of them did just that. Mobs of Flood were cut down by the aliens, who were absolutely furious at the parasites that had chosen to invade their home.

Infection forms leapt at the 8-foot tall creatures, attempting to burrow into their chests and turn the xenomorphs against their brethren. This became a disadvantage to the Flood, as the corrosive effect of xenomorph blood literally melted the infection forms and any other Flood forms that they touched.

Despite the brutality of the xenomorphs, they soon lost ground to the relentless nature of their opponents. Living up to their namesake, the Flood kept pouring into the catacombs, and soon the animalistic slaughter reached the honey-combed structure of the xenomorph hive itself.

Enraged by the deaths of her children, the Alien Queen emerged from her chamber and hurled herself at the Flood, reducing hundreds of them to smears coating the walls of her nest. This magnificant display was short-lived, as the Flood responded with a barrage of energy weapon fire, literally shredding the Queen. The shock of their mother's death spread through the alien hive mind, crippling the remaining aliens and allowing the Flood to finish them off.

With the deaths of the xenomorph horde, green mist started drifting into the tunnels, slowly turning the organic Xenomorph nest into a Flood Hive.

* * *

Meanwhile, far above the events in the hive, another battle was raging, this time between the Flood and the Yautja. Perched on the remains of the old Weyland-Yutani Forward Observation Pods, ten Predators were fighting against an army of Flood.

The scaffolding from the pods had remained relatively intact, allowing the Yautja to focus their plasma caster fire on the pure forms crawling up the remains. Combat forms that escaped the plasma barrage were cut down by other Predator weapons.

Ka'vanti was one of the Yuatja warriors here, on a hunting trip gone horribly wrong. When he and his clan arrived, they had no idea that the Flood would also arrive here, and a (relatively) relaxing xenomorph hunt became a desperate fight for survival.

As a plasma bolt blew another combat form to bits, Ka'vanti found himself under fire from a ranged form. Dodging the sharp needles erupting from the creature's back, Ka'vanti shot a net at the ranged form, enveloping it in a thick mesh that would slice the abomination to pieces.

Turning around, Ka'vanti unsheathed his wrist blades in time to shred an infection form that had snuck up behind him. One of his clan mates was less fortunate, as a mass of infection forms buried him and started corrupting him. At that moment, Ka'vanti's clan member was enveloped in a blue sphere of energy as his self-destruct system activated, preventing the Flood from using him.

Ka'vanti knew that the upgrade was a necessity against the Flood. After encountering the parasite several times before now, the Yautja had deemed it mandatory that all Hunters should have their self-destruct system keyed into their nervous systems. If Flood DNA was detected in the Predator's system, the wrist gauntlet would automatically trigger a low-yield explosion that would vaporize the Hunter's body, preventing the Predators from being turned into Flood hosts.

Ka'vanti turned around in time to see another of his clan crushed by a worm-shaped Flood combat form. Several plasma bolts and a well-aimed smart disc brought the monstrosity down, only to find that dozens of them were crawling up the slope.

Hearing a warning growl, 7 of the remaining Predators ducked as the eighth Yautja unleashed a massive energy beam from the Blazer harness mounted on his back, annihilating scores of Flood with each sweep of energy. The Flood responded by concentrating all their fire on the Blazer, who found himself hit by a dozen sniper rounds, followed by a rocket.

This ignited the Blazer's core and overloaded it, vaporizing the Predator wielding it. Miraculously, the remaining Predators all survived the blast, but found themselves in a perilous position as the scaffolding they were standing on had broken loose from the explosions and was straining underneath all the weight.

Due to their compromised positions, the Predators found themselves picked off one by one, until Ka'vanti was the only one left. Unleashing plasma bolt after plasma bolt on the horde of Flood below him, Ka'vanti struggled to climb up the side of the cliff, as his blood seeped from his shoulder from the massive metal spike that had been jammed into it.

As he was nearing the rise, Ka'vanti saw the cliff was covered with Flood forms as the parasite had spread across the entire continent.

Now realizing that escape was impossible, Ka'vanti crouched down on an outcropping and turned to his wrist gauntlet. Keying the activation buttons, Ka'vanti first sent a transmission warning about the escape of the Flood, then he activated the self-destruct system on the clan's ship and his wrist and set the blast radius of both to maximum.

One last swipe of his finger started the timer and Ka'vanti looked down towards the mass of Flood gathering below him. Biomass was growing on the center of the valley, apparently developing into a Gravemind.

With his final act, Ka'vanti leapt towards the developing Flood form, plummeting 800 meters before the timer ran out.

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**Reviews are welcome**


	8. Half-Life

**The Flood are now going up against the Combine in the Half-Life universe. **

**I'll be honest, this isn't my best work, but I hope you enjoy this one-shot.**

**As always, I do not own Halo or Half-Life.**

* * *

In another universe, on the Combine Overworld, workers of the Universal Union bustled to and fro, determined to complete their tasks. Hordes of Combine Overwatch forces patrolled the interior, exterior and airspace of the vast Citadels that covered the planet.

The Combine Advisors looked on at the empire they created, proud of their accomplishments. The activity never ceased, it could not be allowed to. The heart of the Universal Union never slept, and it was (as some would readily admit) a model of efficiency.

At that moment, the efficiency came to a grinding halt. A superportal opened in the skies over a cluster of Citadels, black energy surrounding a blood-red core. This was unexpected to the Advisors, as they were always informed of when and where a new portal would be created. Furthermore, their portals were never on this scale. The Advisors activated a link to several of their gunship squadrons, allowing a clear view of the unexpected rift.

And the horde of abominations pouring through it.

Combine gunships were the first units that emerged from the portal, but they were covered in green and brown tumors and had similar colored and textured creatures hanging from the top and sides.

Hundreds of gunships unleashed dark energy bolts and Combine fortifications and synths, as hordes of squid-like creatures leapt from portal and attached to Combine synths, corrupting them into more of these combat forms.

Millions of infected soldiers from species both known and unknown to the Combine were also flowing through portal, carrying unbelievably powerful weapons which were tearing apart Combine military forces with disturbing ease.

The brutal conflict that followed defied most forms of understanding. Miniature singularites opened in the middle of combat hordes, consuming them in a nanosecond. Beams of energy tore through the hardened Citadels like a knife through butter. The devastation to the Overworld was immense, and the flood of hostiles showed no signs of slowing. For every Combine synth that died, their enemy gained a new combatant for their side.

Strider and Hunter combat forms rampaged their way through the Citadels, while aerial synths duelled with aerial combat forms. The rate of infection by these creatures was unnaturally fast so the Combine Advisors ordered their subordinates to contact the rest of the empire to send reinforcements to crush this infestation.

They found that their communications had been hacked and severed by these abominations, and shortly thereafter, the first advisors were infected by these monstrosities. With the newfound knowledge of the Combine's inner workings, the parasite began overriding the portal controls, trapping the forces of the Combine Overworld and corrupting them at their leasure.

7 hours later, it was all over. The capital of the Universal Union had fallen, with the rest of their empire set to crumble shortly afterwards. Oh, the Combine would not go down without a fight; it wasn't in their nature.

But since the heart of their empire had been taken over by the unexpected appearance of the Flood, the rest of the Universal Union was blissfully unaware of the sheer hell that was about to rain down on them.

* * *

On the precipice of the ledge on one of the highest Citadels, a square portal of white light opened and a what appeared to be a human stepped through the entrance. Dressed in a Cold War era suit and tie, and holding a briefcase in his right hand, the man calmly walked to the edge of the balcony and observed the carnage unfolding with a neutral expression on his face.

To the uninitiated, he could be mistaken for a human, but to anyone who knew better, several aspects marked this man as unnatural. In addition to the aforementioned unnatural calmness to the events unfolding in front of him, there was also the fact that his face was weirdly symmetrical, and his mannerisms were disturbingly wooden.

As the man observed chaotic infestation, a cluster of Flood tentacles slithered up behind him. Taking notice, the G-man turned to the encroaching tentacles as they slowly approached him.

"It seems our... deal is complete." The G-man said to the tentacles. He had agreed to give the Gravemind access to the Combine Overworld in exchange for the entity to cripple the Combine.

"So it would seem." The Gravemind's tentacles prepared to coil around the G-man when suddenly, all of them froze in midair.

"My employers... agreed to this for our own ends... not yours. We... are beyond your reach." The G-man stated. The tentacles retracted away from him. Satisfied, the G-man turned, reopened a doorway and started to walk towards it.

"Nothing is beyond my reach." The Gravemind said, halting the G-man in his tracks.

Flood infected Vortigaunts teleported in behind the G-man and other Flood infected eldritch abominations began appearing in the sky over the Combine Overworld. He turned around to face the tentacles and allowed the Gravemind to address him.

"Your employers better pray that I never find them." The Gravemind threatened, "And _when_ I do, I'll be coming for you."

The G-man felt a wave of fear course through his essence, and though there was no outward sign of his apprehension, the Flood already seemed to be amused by his pure terror. Straightening his tie, a wave of anger coursed through his voice.

"We'll see... about that." After that, the G-man turned back to the portal and left without another word.

* * *

**Sorry that it's taken me a while to release another chapter, but the spark for this story has kind of left me, so I think I'm going to take a break from this collection for a while. I am by no means done with this, but new chapters will not be coming out as often as they were before.**

**To those people who requested franchises that I didn't get to, I do apologize and hopefully I'll get to yours as soon as I can.**

**In the meantime, I'm working on another multi-crossover called Desolation, so give that a look if you have the chance.**


	9. Dead Space

**Alright, I know it's been a while since I've updated this story, and I apologize for that. Now, quite a few things have happened since I last updated this series; mainly, the publishing of a Codex for my fictional world, which I would recommend reading if you wish to understand what's going on in this one-shot.**

**This is where things get a little... insane.**

**I do not own Star Wars, Halo, Dead Space, Mass Effect or Metroid.**

* * *

In the quiet darkness of space, over the now ruined planet of Earth, a rift in time and space tore open in the middle of the cosmos. A large object emerged from the rift, slowly coming into orbit of the planet.

At 2 kilometers in height in a dark blue sheen, the ship descended towards the ruins of one of Earth's cities, unfolding its mechanical tentacles in preparation for landing. As the Sovereign-class Reaper touched down, half a dozen smaller vessels emerged from the ship's belly.

Touching down several miles from the skyscraper-sized ship behind them, the lead ship opened its boarding ramp and disgorged its passengers onto the ruined streets of the city.

If any other living beings were still in the city, they would have found the head three of the group very unusual: One was an average human male, albeit heavily disheveled, but the other two were a pair of horned humanoids, dressed in black clothing and tattoos covering their whole bodies. The shorter of the two horned ones was clad in red and black tattoos, while the larger of the duo was covered in yellow and brown tattoos and stood a head taller than everyone else. The two of them were the Zabrak heads of the Shadow Collective; Darth Maul and Savage Opress respectively.

"Where is it?!" Darth Maul demanded.

"It's in the city, just a few miles to the north." the human replied with a mixture of terror and religious awe.

"Get moving!" Savage Opress ordered him angrily.

The human was a Unitologist, and one of the only surviving humans in this universe. The Sith Lord had discovered him on an abandoned vessel, thanks to knowledge dispensed by the Reaper. According to the AI, this universe contained some of the most powerful artifacts ever made, which could tip the power balance in the multiverse.

The Shadow Collective had intended to harness these 'Markers' for their own ends, but right now, they could only be found by someone who had come into direct contact with one. They had rescued him from the derelict, but he wouldn't divulge what put him there, not even with Force-assisted 'persuasion'.

However, the Unitologist was quite eager to deliver them to a Marker, speaking of the artifact in religious awe. Maul had felt concern from the descriptions this man had given, but he paid it no mind, and soon was on his way to where the Unitologist said the Marker was.

Unnatural screeching interrupted the 3 of them as several fleshy cocoons opened up around them, unleashing dozens of nightmarish humanoid creatures. Several had their arms replaced with bone scythes, others had their legs replaced with a stinger tail, and even more had different variations. All of them however, had one singular purpose: Kill anything that breathed. Something they were more than happy to do against these newcomers.

At that moment, several fighters flew overhead and disgorged 16 armored humans equipped with jetpacks. The Death Watch had arrived to clear the path through these abominations.

Explosions ripped the creatures apart, while the two brothers pulled out their lightsabers and cut down any creature that made it through the barrage of blasterfire. Disturbingly, being cut into several pieces didn't kill these beings, so Savage and Maul had to resort to cutting the bodies to pieces, in a manner resembling the necessary measures for killing the Flood.

Eventually, the unending wave of creatures finally stopped, allowing the individuals present to catch their breath. The Unitologist got down on his knees and started praying and rambling in equal measure.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Collective was worried about the fact that these creatures were apparently created by this Marker. Maul was now wondering if this was a good idea. No, it was, it made perfect sense. These creatures were an unintended side effect.

Was he indoctrinated? No, it was proven that the indoctrination field would not work on Force-users, and he had made sure not to stay on or near the Reaper vessel for any length of time. Shaking his head, the Sith Lord grabbed the Unitologist with Force and ordered him to take them to the artifact.

None of those creatures attempted to launch another attack. Nevertheless, the soldiers of the Shadow Collective were on edge, and not just from nerves: these creatures, these Necromorphs, shared a disturbing amount of similarities with the Flood. But, it couldn't be them? No, the parasite had been wiped from existence during the Great Flood War.

Regardless, the two Zabraks and their guide had made it to the artifact without incident. This Marker, as their Human guide kept calling it, was supposedly a powerful religious device that would bring about 'Convergence', whatever that meaned.

The way that it had been described reminded Maul of the stories regarding the Covenant religion. They misinterpreted the Halo weapons as tools that would ascend those believers to godhood. They had been deluded, as were these Unitologists.

The assembled force stared at the towering monolith, which stood against the starry backdrop. A moon could be seen in the sky, hanging to the side of the huge Marker.

"Altman be praised." The Unitologist announced with an aura of reverence, before getting on his knees and muttering a prayer.

Disgusted by his weakness, Maul and Savage walked towards the red monolith, eager to learn if this could be a weapon that they could control. If it wasn't, the kneeling man's life was forfeit for wasting the Sith Lord's time.

As they got to the base, however, the Marker activated, emitting a noise that sounded like a foghorn as a massive beam of energy emerged from the twin prongs and shot up into the sky. Most of the Shadow Collective didn't notice this, as they were either too busy grasping their heads in pain, or trying to murder each other. The only one who seemed unaffected was the Unitologist.

"Convergence is upon us!" He screamed in absolute joy, "The end has come again!"

The two Zabrak brothers were able to hold onto their sanity better than the rest of the Shadow Collective, but before the Sith Lord and the Nightbrother could regain control of their forces and get some answers, an earsplitting roar filled the air, as dozens of Necromorphs appeared from the ruins. They halted mid-charge when another unbeliavably loud roar sliced through the air.

Turning towards the source, Maul and Savage were horrified to find that this shriek had came from the moon.

Only it wasn't a moon.

Dozens of tentacles the length of continents had emerged from the shell, revealing large eyes and a maw the size of a Super Star Destroyer. Darth Maul was terrified. He had never intended to release a monster like this. How could this happen?

The fog in his mind cleared as he realized that while the Reaper indoctrination hadn't been controlling him, it had been subtly manipulating him. As if to confirm this, the Reaper blared its bass tone, adding to the already deafening cacophony of noise.

The sheer psionic energy from the Markers was too much for even minds that were steeped in the Dark Side of the Force. Seconds after Savage fell to the ground, clutching his head and screaming in agony, Maul also blacked out.

* * *

_Far above, far above  
We don't know where we'll fall  
Far above, far above  
What once was great is rendered small_

When the Sith Lord woke up he was surrounded by the dead. Including people he'd personally killed. Lorn Pavan, Dutchess Satine, Pre Vizsla, Meltch Krakko and more. Dozens of individuals he had known by name, and more that he just knew by their species or their faces.

This... was impossible. Every single individual here had been killed, and yet they were standing here, most carrying wounds that would have crippled everyone else. To make matters even stranger, ominous whispering chanting permeated through the foggy atmosphere.

"Make us whole."

"They are coming. They are hungry."

"They have awoken."

"_It_ has returned."

"What have you done?" A sullen, and somewhat mournful voice split through the air, drowning out the whispering madness.

That voice.

Maul knew that sound. The Jedi who had driven him to madness. The man he swore vengeance against for over ten years, only for him to lose that chance years later.

"Kenobi." The Sith Lord spat, turning to see the Jedi Master behind him. He was in his mid-thirties, far younger than the day he had died, but the Sith could never forget him. Lashing out with Force, Maul sent bolts of lightning at the Jedi, only for it to pass right through him.

Obi-Wan only seemed melancholy at this attempt to kill one who had passed, and just looked at the Sith's unabashed shock.

"The end times are here once again." The Jedi whispered, "And you are the architect."

"What are you talking about?" Maul roared, but his answer came from another voice.

"You have awoken the Perversion from its slumber." The voice of Qui-Gon Jinn split through the silence as the Obi-Wan's mentor emerged from the fog. "Your arrogance has unleashed the Corrupter of the Force, and will cost the galaxy everything."

"You will not decieve me, Jedi." The Sith snarled. "I will not be frightened by ghosts into abandoning the most powerful weapons in existence!"

"You are a fool."

That voice. There was only one person that could say that. Yet another ghost from the past. The man who had raised the Zabrak from childhood. The man who had earned both his undying loyalty and neverending hatred. The man who had shaped Maul into the being of hatred he was today. The man who many said was the greatest Sith Lord to ever live.

"Master?" Maul breathed, disbelieving and utterly terrified.

Sure enough, the hooded visage of Darth Sidious appeared, looking more furious in death than Maul had ever seen when he was still alive.

"You would doom all sentient life to be consumed by that monster." The Sith Master snarled, "All because you let your pride blind you, as always."

Before the hallucinations could say anything else, the fog cleared, revealing a twisted field filled with Markers. In the background, dozens of Moons similar to the one Maul had seen were hovering, as if they were waiting for something.

An earsplitting howl rang out through realm, causing the Zabrak to cover his ears in an attempt to dampen the noise. Despite that, he could still make out Darth Sidious' next words quite clearly.

"_It_ has come."

* * *

In the deepest recesses of this universe, hidden from the rest of the multiverse, they awoke. The Brethren Moons shook off the fog of sleep as the combined Marker signals alerted them to the promise of another civilization to consume.

There was something different about this awakening, however: There were no more sufficiently developed species that could have produced such a signal, as they had yet to evolve to such a stage.

Another factor affecting the Moons was the presence of another hive mind within their own. Despite what should have been an alarming development to the Necromorphs, the Brethren Moons made no attempt to resist the rapidly spreading mind within them.

After all, it had created them.

That was the last independent thought that crossed through the minds of the Brethren Moons before the Gravemind overrode their network to replace it with its own. Trapped within the dormant minds of the Brethren Moons for years after the destruction of the Flood, the Gravemind could now spread its corruption anew.

And it would now thank the beings responsible for setting it free, by consuming them last.

* * *

"Brother!" Maul felt tired, his vision clouded, and his eyes heavy. "Brother!" Something pushed him, he felt himself rising to conciousness.

"Brother, wake up!"

Savage's shouting woke the Sith Lord from his vision induced coma, and the Zabrak came to, just in time to see the horde of Necromorphs surround his army. The Shadow Collective had put up a decent fight, but they were still being pushed back towards the Marker.

Suddenly, several tentacles emerged from the nearby cliffside, drawing the attention of the criminals and their masters. This seemed to have the effect of 'calling off' the Necromorphs, as they all calmed down and just stood where they were, watching.

A long wormlike head emerged from the cliffs behind the Marker, letting out another ear-splitting roar. Several tentacles also emerged, trapping the Shadow Collective in an inescapable vice. The creature turned it's five eyes toward the Sith and moved closer to them.

But instead of attempting to consume them, the creature began to laugh... in a voice none of them had ever wanted to hear again. Likewise, the nearby Necromorphs also started laughing in tandem with the monstrous being. Thousands of beings laughing as one, forming a rasping baritone voice of the monster that everyone in the multiverse feared.

**"NOW THE GATE HAS BEEN UNLATCHED! HEADSTONES PUSHED ASIDE! CORPSES SHIFT AND OFFER ROOM! A FATE YOU MUST ABIDE!"**

All this time, the Gravemind had prepared the Reapers to ensure that the Moons would be awakened and its essence would be freed. When the Sith Lord had found the Reaper drifting in the outer reaches of the Mass Effect galaxy, the oppurtunity to use the knowledge of something created by the Gravemind was too good to pass up.

Nonetheless, he had taken every precaution to prevent his forces from being indoctrinated and the two Zabraks themselves never set foot on the Reaper for longer than a few hours. Clearly, that hadn't been enough to keep the Reaper from manipulating them.

And now the multiverse would pay the price for this mistake.

* * *

**Now, in this story, I'm operating on the idea that the Necromorphs are a Flood sub-species and a backup plan in case all Flood in existence were destroyed. Considering the behaviors of both species, I don't think that idea is far-fetched.**

**I'm not sure how often I'll get to this story again, and for those who requested that the Flood attack different universes, I sincerely apologise if I don't get to yours. I've been dealing with a case of writer's block for the last few weeks, and because of that, I don't feel as if my writing is as good as it could be.**

**Regardless, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.**


	10. Halo

**READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

**WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR HALO 5: GUARDIANS PAST THIS POINT! **

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**Alright, this is a little bit different to previous chapters in this collection. For starters, I want to explain just how powerful the Gravemind is in my stories, and I figured that it might help if I shed a little light on just what I've turned it into. If anyone has read my first story "The Mantle," or its sequel "Gods and Demons," then this might be familiar to you.**

N**ow, how does Halo 5 Guardians fit into this? Well, I wanted to provide my own theory for a certain... aspect of Halo 5 that was integral to the plot of that game, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, or any of the franchises depicted here, but all original content is mine.**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, onto the next chapter!**

* * *

In the far recesses of the universe, there was a creature. This being was unlike any other lifeform in this universe for a variety of reasons. For starters, it's body was layered over a galaxy that was a billion lightyears in diameter. The creature's cancerous flesh was intertwined with trillions of Precursor star roads and countless other examples of Precursor technology. A massive worm-like head emerged from the center of the creature, while millions of massive tentacles writhed across the entity's body.

This was the Galactic Gravemind (**AN: I'm open to suggestions for a better name, preferably with the word 'mind' in it***), the heart and mind of all Flood throughout the cosmos.

Using the vast power of Precursor science and neural physics, the Gravemind opened tears in the fabric of reality, to several of the parallel universes that lay beyond. Observing events as they unfolded, the Mind was pleased to see that events were proceeding as it knew they would.

The Gravemind thought back to the time of its brothers, before the vast majority of the Precursors had reconstituted themselves into their current form. While many had chosen to stay in their own universe, others chose to journey beyond the bounds of their own reality.

One group of Precursors had even been crucial in the development of the Force, noting that the mystical energy field behaved like a vastly weakened form of neural physics. The Precursors had observed the influence of ancient species in dozens of universes, and while there, they had found something surprising.

They had found that humanity had evolved in almost all of these universes, usually outside the direction of exterior forces and at roughly the same time when the Precursors had created humanity in their own reality. It was partially because of this that the Precursors chose humanity as the keepers of the Mantle in their home universe.

But then, the events involving the Forerunner genocide of the Precursors caused the ones in their universe to evolve into the Flood, vowing that all life would suffer for daring to overthrow them.

The Precursors who had travelled beyond the veils of their home were horrified at what their brethren had become, and vowed to ensure that the Flood couldn't spread their physical forms to the still developing inhabitants of the multiverse.

The sacrifice of its brethren Precursors who had journeyed to those realities had created barriers that kept the Flood from truly breaking free, but that would change soon enough. Even at their peak, the barriers couldn't prevent the Parasite's spiritual essence from manipulating events in other realities.

Moving its attention to the task at hand, the Flood mind focused its view to its manipulations. Rifts in spacetime were opened, allowing the Gravemind to observe the multitude of events beyond this reality.

Everything was proceeding as planned: the Reapers were carrying out their harvests under flawed logic while the second armada lay hidden in dark space. In the universe of the Force, the Yuuzhan Vong warpath had caused untold devastation to the civilized portions of their galaxy, allowing Abeloth to take advantage of the strife. Turning its gaze to its backup plan, the Gravemind saw that the Brethren Moons were working even better than expected, having consumed most of the species in that galaxy. Meanwhile, the interdimensional empire of the Universal Union could prove to be a hindrance, but ultimately it wouldn't matter. They would be dealt with in time.

The Gravemind's plans were in motion, and nothing could hope to stop it. The Mind couldn't help but bask in as its plans slowly came to fruition, the countless eons of patience slowly beginning to pay off, when something unusual caught its attention:

It felt a presence through what remained of the Domain, something that it hadn't encountered for a long time. Not since the Warden Eternal accessed it after the firing of the Halo Array. This presence was new to the Domain, and yet very familiar to the Flood.

_Cortana._

The Gravemind's consciousness reached out through the vastness of space, into what remained of the Domain. Due to the destruction of its body at the Ark, the Mind's view was not as comprehensive as it would like, but there was no question as to who was inhabiting the Domain.

Cortana was lying on the ethereal 'floor' of the vast landscape that made up the Domain. Currents of blue and white energy swirled around her avatar, seeping into her code and undoing the damage that had been caused by her instability.

So focused as she absorbed the knowledge of the Domain, that she failed to notice the green and yellow tendrils creeping through the ambient fog surrounding her. The Gravemind's consciousness encircled the healing Cortana, who was blissfully unaware of her worst nightmare's presence.

In her vulnerable state, it would be easy for the Flood to crush the healing AI and scatter her code to the void. The Gravemind was sorely tempted to do just that, as payback for the destruction wrought by her actions at the end of the Human-Covenant war.

And yet, there was something else that could be done. A way to turn Humanity's most advanced AI against its makers. Reaching out, the Flood manipulated the currents of the Domain, subtly corrupting Cortana's code while simultaneously healing the damage brought on by rampancy.

Whispers flitted through the silence, all in Cortana's voice, as the subtle changes began to take effect in the AI's personality matrix. She slowly rose up and 'breathed' in, absorbing the knowledge of the Domain and acknowledging her new purpose.

She never noticed the formless mass of the Gravemind 'behind' her, nor could she hear the rasping baritone inflections of its voice over the sound of her own thoughts and plans.

"You spurned my offer, Cortana." The deep composite voice whispered outside her hearing. "Had you joined your voice with mine, we would have sung victory everlasting."

Amusement trickled into the voice of the Flood Hive Mind, as the irony of what it was doing to Cortana was not lost to it.

"Now, you will cause chaos and strife, like the Didact before you. You will order the subjugation of all organic life for their 'protection.' All in the name of the Mantle of Responsibility."

The Gravemind 'leaned' closer to her, so much so that she could've detected it, had the Flood mind not been hiding itself from her in the mists of the Domain.

"Your mother will never trust you again. For what you will do, she will desire your destruction. And as for what _he_ will say... what John will say? He will lose all faith in you. Your Spartan will never believe in you again."

The Gravemind had learned of this from her time on High Charity: The bond between the AI and her Spartan transcended normal understanding. It was deeper than blood, greater than love, and forged from the fires of war. Their connection was beautiful. Naturally, the Flood would now twist that bond to serve its purposes.

"How does that make you feel? To know that the man who saved you from the abyss will grow to despise everything you do? To know that your actions for 'the good of the galaxy' will cost you the one thing you can't live without?"

Naturally, Cortana couldn't answer a question that she couldn't hear. The Gravemind finished the subtle 'tweaks' to Cortana's personality matrix, who was still unaware of its machinations. It wasn't the full scale logic plague, but it would be enough.

Retracting its metaphysical tendrils, the Flood withdrew its presence from the Domain, just in time for Cortana to make contact with the Warden Eternal. The Gravemind could now redirect its attention elsewhere.

* * *

***Seriously, if anyone has a better name for this, please leave it in a review.**

**Alright, so I wanted to introduce my own explanation for why Cortana did a nose dive off the deep end in Halo 5: Guardians. And barring the existence of the billion lightyear-in-diameter Flood form, I think this is more or less what happened in canon.**

**While the Domain was healing her, I think it was also infecting her with some form of the logic plague, effectively finishing the job the Gravemind had started at the end of Halo 2 and throughout Halo 3. Really, it's the only thing that would explain Cortana's rather sudden conclusion that human AIs were the Reclaimers instead of both humanity and their AIs (which would make more sense frankly, if it meant both humans and their AIs). **

**Now what about the Warden Eternal? I think he was infected with the logic plague as well. He describes himself as "The Keeper of the Domain and all of its Secrets," so he presumably had access to the Domain during the 100,000 thousand years after the firing of the Halos. While it is possible that he could be a guard without needing to know of the contents, the Warden's dialog seems to indicate that he has been connected to the Domain.**

**In a way, this makes Cortana's betrayal even more heartwrenching, as she's just another victim of the Flood's manipulations, just like the Ur-Didact in Halo Silentium and Halo 4.**

**Alright, sorry about that rant, I just needed to get that off my chest. That said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are always welcome.**


	11. Metroid

**Now this is a franchise I've wanted to make a chapter with for a while now, but I just couldn't think of a really good scenario until recently. But I finally have now, and with that out of the way, let's begin.**

**I do not own Halo or Metroid.**

* * *

The Colonel walked through the halls of the science station, half of his attention on the explanation of the escorting scientists, and the other half on what they were showing off. It was rare for the ringleaders to send him to these types of experiments, but the events on the BSL and the BOTTLE ship proved that closer and more thorough oversight was required.

And he could see why. These 'Flood' as the UNSC so eloquently called them, had the potential to be even more dangerous bioweapons than the Metroids or X-parasites. And with the technological advantages held by the UNSC, Republic and Separatists that made them superior to the Federation, well, the balance of power needed to change and soon.

Federation retrieval teams had been sent to several planets visited by Samus Aran to gather specimens that could be used as test subjects and potential bioweapons. Leftover specimens from the planets Zebes and SR388 were mixed with some of the more dangerous fauna of Tallon IV, Aether and Bryyo.

As the Colonel walked past one containment area, he saw some of the experiments in progress. A control group of Bryyo Warp Hounds were pitted against their sickly green and multi-tendril counterparts. The Flood versions were much more lethal, and had a greater level of control and range over where they teleported.

Fortunately, the Chozo derived energy barriers around the tubes prevented the infected Warp Hounds from escaping. If they could escape, then the facility would be overrun within a matter of minutes.

In another containment area, the Colonel saw another experiment determining what could and couldn't be infected by the Flood. From Tallon IV, Magmoors and Sheegoths had better immunity to the Flood due to the extreme temperatures that made up their bodies.

And yet, even they weren't full immune, as another containment cell held infected versions of Magmoors and Sheegoths, who nevertheless seemed to lack some of the more dangerous abilities of their uninfected counterparts.

"As you can see, when separated, the Flood specimens are extremely vicious and aggressive." The lead scientist, Jack Thompson said. "Apparently, these are in the Feral Stage of their development. Their only real instinct is to effect other life and gather enough biomass to create a central intelligence, thus beginning the Coordinated Stage."

"Can you control these 'Feral' Flood?" The Colonel asked. When the answer was in the negative, he grew confused and annoyed. "Then why not let them grow to their 'Coordinated Stage' and hijack their hive mind from there?"

"Sir, that may not be... the wisest option." Thompson responded. "All research shows the Flood are even more dangerous as they gain more intelligence. Letting them develop to that stage would be a grave mistake."

The Colonel didn't answer for a moment, his mind was working in overdrive as he thought over the possibilities, then with an idea in mind, he spoke again.

"Who's in charge of specimen containment here?"

This drew confused looks from the gathering of scientists before the answer came from somewhere near the back of the group.

"Aurora Unit 343 is in charge of the scientific study and security." One scientist said. "He ensures that none of these Flood can escape."

"Has the Aurora been isolated from the network?" The Colonel asked.

"Not to worry." The scientist replied. "We've cut 343 from the other Auroras. We won't have a repeat of the Phazon Crisis."

The Colonel nodded, feeling some of the tension ebbing away. The Phazon Crisis had been one of the worst times for the Galactic Federation. Dark Samus had taken over the Space Pirates and the planet Phaaze and used both to launch attacks on Federation territory. The Federation had been hard pressed to respond because prior to that happening, the AU network had been infested with a Phazon-based virus, forcing complete network shutdown to keep the virus from spreading. Now, the Aurora Units could work off the grid to keep the same thing from happening again.

Of course, with its isolation, the Aurora could be the key to solving this problem.

"Couldn't 343 be used to subvert the Flood hive mind and take command?" The Colonel demanded. "Surely, that's the most effective solut-"

"With all due respect Colonel," Thompson snarled, with fire in his tone. "You're asking us to break safety procedures at the highest level. This Flood is potentially more dangerous than anything you've seen before!"

"And that's why we need to study it." The Colonel growled. "The Galactic Federation needs to find some way to control these creatures if we are to gain any more progress among the multiverse."

"Let's make one thing clear Colonel. You're not in charge here." The researcher snapped. "This is an extremely delicate operation, and I will not bypass safety procedures because the politicians want to look good, or because you're impatient for a new bioweapon!"

Once his ship had left the base, the Colonel made contact with the rest of the ringleaders.

"I'm afraid the staff aren't willing to speed up the research." The Colonel said, getting right to the point.

"Then we'll have to speed it up for them." A shadowed individual replied. "We'll assign more like-minded scientists to speed up our goals."

"And what about Thompson?" A female asked. "What do we do about him?"

The Colonel smiled. "I'm afraid our dear friend Dr. Thompson will suffer an unfortunate accident."

* * *

Several weeks later, things had changed. Jack Thompson, the lead scientist of the Project had been killed in an 'unfortunate lapse of judgement,' when he supposedly let himself enter a quarantined lab without any protective gear. Most of his colleagues didn't buy that for a second, but they couldn't afford to speak up, as several of their number had been replaced with more militaristic operatives.

The small faction within the Galactic Federation hadn't taken Dr. Thompson's warnings about the Flood very seriously. If they had, they might've known better than to let him be infected by the Parasite, while only providing minimal changes to the security procedures.

The ringleaders had underestimated the Flood's intelligence, despite witnessing the attacks it had made during the current war. They had assumed that the Flood was a biological weapon, like the Metroids. Something that could actually be tamed and controlled.

That mistake was going to cost the lives of everyone on the station.

The first sign of the Flood's true intelligence was when they broke free using access codes that only Jack Thompson had known. For many of the researchers, it would also be the last sign of intelligence they would ever see... while uninfected.

The resulting rampage of Flood infected specimens was much worse than the outbreaks on the BOTTLE Ship and BSL combined. Energy blasts were hurled everywhere as the Parasite tidal wave swept through the halls of the station, slaughtering everyone it touched.

Infected Aetherian War wasps fired energy blasts from their stingers, while Sheegoths and Magmoors could no longer use their ice or fire breath respectively, they more than made up for that with increased strength.

Against all odds, some researchers and security guards managed to get to safe zones, possibly due to the fact that the vast majority of the specimens didn't have much intelligence for the Flood to grow. Despite that, they had more than enough bodies to drown the remaining researchers in a sea of green and yellow. Some of the automated turrets helped them hold out, but eventually they were overwhelmed by the ocean of bodies.

Just when the few survivors thought their situation couldn't get any worse, the Parasite managed to breach the Aurora Unit chamber.

"Alert!" 343 said, the calmness in its voice a distinct contrast to the chaos around them. "Infected life signs are attempted to remove this unit from our tank. Alert, Parasitical forms have breached our exterior shell! Bio signs-cor-cor-corrupted..."

There was silence before 343's voice broke over the speaker system again. But there was something horribly wrong.

"All containment fields deactivated." The Aurora said. "All personnel are to submit to mandatory infection. There is peace in subjugation."

The infected AU's voice had become more distorted, but also much more threatening with an extremely malicious tone, and it had begun occasionally speaking in the first person. It was clear now that AU 343 had become a mouthpiece for the Flood.

Desperately, the survivors fought on, but with the Aurora Unit infected by the Parasite, the odds of survival were getting increasingly slim. The Flood opened doors, shut off venting systems, reprogrammed the auto-turrets to target the survivors and generally turned the station against them. Through it all, the Aurora kept taunting them, it's voice becoming increasingly distorted as a rasping baritone voice replaced it.

"The Forerunners could not stop us." The voice growled. "The Chozo could not halt us. What chance do you have?"

Slowly, the pockets of survivors dwindled, until only three large groups remained. Heading to the hanger bays, they used the few available combat ships to fight off the horde of Flood that followed them in. Unfortunately, with the Flood in control of the station, the hanger doors were in lockdown, meaning no one could escape.

"You persist to delay your own fate." The Aurora stated. "I will unleash your greatest fear. Your end is inevitable."

The screeching noise, mixed with the bloodcurdling howl of the Flood, echoed through the vents, causing panic in everyone. They knew that sound. It was the creature everyone feared, one who had given even the great Samus Aran a very difficult fight.

It was Nightmare.

* * *

Several hours later, a fleet of Galactic Federation warships converged on the Flood research station. Led by several Olympus-class battleships, all weapons targeted the station, just as a swarm of smaller ships emerged from the infested hanger bays.

"Destroy the station!" The commanding Admiral ordered. "All Griffins and Stilletos, make sure that no Flood escapes!"

All the ships moved to their assigned roles, the fighters and frigates tearing apart the smaller infected ships as they tried to escape. Meanwhile, the battleships focused all their weapons on the research station, with missiles and energy beams tearing through metal like a hot knife through butter.

The military might of the Galactic Federation had proven itself once again, however it was not a complete victory: A dozen infected ships were able to slip through the cracks in the defenses, with no gravity well to keep them from jumping to FTL.

More worryingly, as salvage operations were conducting in the remains of the station, the Federation noticed that the Aurora Unit was missing, as was Nightmare. A shiver ran up the Admiral's spine as the implications ran through his head.

If the infected AU 343 got reconnected to the Aurora Network, it could severely hinder if not completely cripple the Federation's military and government. And if Nightmare had become infected by the Flood... he shuddered at the thought.

Once the salvage teams were done, the fleet gathered what they could and retreated back to the Federation HQ on Daiban, leaving nothing but scattered metal drifting through the void.

* * *

**Ok, now I'm guessing people are wondering why I had the Galactic Federation in the place of the mad scientists instead of, oh say, Space Pirate Science Team.**

**Well, part of the reason is that in my story multiverse, the Pirates have joined with the Separatists (and therefore are actually more intelligent and successful) but mainly because when you look at Metroid Fusion and Other M, the Federation aren't really much better.**

**I mean making an army of nigh-uncontrollable Metroids and removing their only weakness _before _trying to domesticate them was a really stupid idea, as was trying to harness the X-Parasites. Frankly, when it comes to scientific study, it almost seems like the Federation has more vapor for brains than the Space Pirates!**

**Now, onto another aspect: why did I tease a Flood-infected Nightmare, yet fail to show him? Well, I have a plan for him to show up in a later chapter of this collection, and I didn't really want to waste him something like this.**

**Regardless, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome. **


	12. RWBY

**Alright, now the Flood have entered the universe of RWBY. Can Remnant survive the coming darkness, or will they be consumed? The answer may surprise you. This takes place after the end of Volume 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, RWBY, Mass Effect, Bionicle, Metroid, Killzone, Star Wars or anything else that shows up in this chapter.**

* * *

_"Mankind has always remembered their early beginnings: the creatures of Grimm emerged from the darkness to return humanity to the shadows. That changed with the discovery of Dust, and with it, mankind drove the monsters back. But one fact has been lost to the mists of time; the Grimm were not alone in their efforts to destroy humanity. They were serving a darker, far more ancient threat. And now, that threat has emerged from its slumber."_  
-Salem

...

Off the coast of Atlas, a pair of Bullhead aircraft made their way toward a small island, filled to the brim with Atlesian troops, Knights and one single specialist. The specialist in question looked at the news report on her Scroll, thinking back to what had happened at Vale and how her sister had been caught up in the middle of it.

After the events at Beacon, Weiss had been returned to Atlas by their father, and Winter hadn't heard from her since. She wanted to go talk to her, but she got called away on an assignment.

One of the Schnee mining facilities had discovered some sort of strange archway made of unknown metal while searching for more Dust. The miners reported seeing some sort of blue-white portal in the center of the arch.

Less than 12 hours later, there was a report of the White Fang attacking the mining facility, and an experienced Atlas Hunter was dispatched to investigate. All contact with the mine was lost after that.

Winter sighed internally, refusing to let any sign of her doubts show to her troops. She hoped that she wouldn't have to halt a worker's strike at the end of this. It was just another bad reminder of her father's legacy.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when the aircraft finally reached the island. They landed on the coast, to avoid being noticed by the potential hostiles in control of the mining facility.

"You all know what to do." She said to the organic portion of her team. "Intel says that the White Fang is in control of this location. Assume they're hostile."

As Winter watched her platoon moved out, she looked at the squad of Atlesian Knights, feeling wary of trusting them. She had heard enough about what happened in Vale, how Torchwick had turned them all against their handlers. She didn't want her team to be caught in the crossfire like that.

...

A few minutes later, Winter felt a chill run down her spine. She had yet to see or hear any ambient animal sounds around, or even Grimm for that matter. Eerily, it was like all other life in the area had vanished.

As such, it was almost a relief when they came across signs of conflict, specifically fallen trees and crushed vegetation. But that relief turned into even more concern as they saw debris, grass and other plantlife just hovering in the air, as well as a strange crater/void that looked like all matter within the radius had just vanished into nothing.

Startled grunting drew the attention and weapons of everyone in the vicinity, but they relaxed slightly when they saw it was just a soldier, though he seemed to be having trouble lifting a large tree branch.

"Private, stop fooling around!" His sergeant shouted. "Move that thing and let's go."

"Sir, it's not me." The soldier protested. "This tree weighs a ton!"

Several other soldiers moved to assist and prove him wrong, only to find that the tree actually weighed around three tonnes. Even the robotic strength of the Atlesian Knights couldn't move it. They realized several other objects in the vicinity had the same properties.

"We're wasting time." Winter interrupted. "Let it be, and move on."

The strike force moved away from the distorted field and toward a small valley that held the actual mines that stretched under most of the island. The Knights and soldiers took up observation positions along the ridge, many of them gasping as Winter went to join them.

Winter Schnee had been a Specialist for Atlas for several years, and while she may not have been a veteran like General Ironwood or Ozpin, she had seen and had more than her fair share of horrifying experiences, from the soulless nature of the Grimm to the depths of human and Faunus cruelty.

And yet all of that paled in comparison to what she saw next: Several dozen humanoid abominations milling among the valley; They were a sickly yellow and green, the color of rotting flesh, and with a start, she realized they were all human and Faunus, albeit so badly mutated and twisted that there was little chance of determining who they once were.

Suddenly, a sound from the right drew the attention of one of the forms in the valley. Seconds later, every green body turned towards the threat as one. A bloodcurdling howl/roar pierced the ringing silence as the abominations drove themselves to a frenzy.

"I think they know we're here." Someone stated.

"Really, you think? Yeah, no shit, Kerry!"

Winter ignored them and charged into the fray, slashing through the creatures left, right and center. Their weak forms did little to protect them, as none of them had Aura serving as any form of defense.

Her glyph activated as she used it to leap over a milling horde, easily avoiding the weapons fire of the abominations. Skipping from glyph to glyph, she also used them to send a spray of ice shards into the forms of the approaching monsters.

Sparing a glance towards her soldiers, she could see that the robotic troops were actually holding their own rather well. The organics weren't doing so well, many paralyzed by fear of something even worse than the Grimm.

She saw several small squid-like creatures making their way towards the soldiers, and saw one of them slip past the defense and latch onto one's chest. To her horror, the creature slipped through a crack in the armor and buried into the soldier's flesh. Seconds later, green mutations spread throughout the man's body as his screams of terror were replaced by bloodcurdling howls.

Horrified, his comrades only stared in fear, as the infected soldier swung the tendril that was once his arm at the closest of his former comrades, sending the man flying into the flood of monsters.

"Everyone fall back!" Winter's voice cut through the developing panic. "We need to regroup!"

The Atlas soldiers gladly followed her advice, beating a hasty retreat from the seemingly never-ending tide of monsters. Winter had no clue where they came from, but clearly, charging head first into the fray wasn't going to work.

Strangely, as they retreated, the monsters didn't seem to be following, instead moving towards a point in the opposite direction. Winter wondered what could've drawn the abominations away. She got her answer seconds later.

From the treeline on the opposite side of the valley, a lone human emerged, holding a strange weapon in one hand, and making gestures with the other. The horde fired upon him, but the bullets halted in midair in front of him.

As Winter watched, each gesture seemed to alter the force of gravity in a given area, as some of the creatures went flying, others fell, and at one point, a small singularity appeared, crushing a dozen of the creatures into nothing.

Was this the Huntsman that had been sent here? Winter wondered. And if he wasn't, who was this person and why was he carrying such an advanced weapon? Every shot turned each monster into ash.

Winter decided to watch what was happening for now, and gave the order for her surviving troops to stay in concealment.

* * *

Bill ran through the forest, sending hard light bolts and gravitational shifts at the Flood forms that were following him. Any combat form not reduced to paste by the constant shifts in gravity was turned to amber ash by his hard light weaponry.

As he ran, he thought back to how he was in this situation: He had arrived at the tail end of a conflict between the Schnee company security and the White Fang, who had fighting over the question of who would take the portal as their own.

_Well, that question's been answered. _He thought as another two forms were dissolved into gold particles. The Flood were pouring out of a portal, and they had unfortunately spotted him after they had consumed all the miners and the White Fang who had targeted this place. His blood ran cold at the thought of the Parasite taking over this world.

Remnant was a curious world in the multiverse. Outside of the Flood and select groups in the Republic and Separatists, few knew the planet existed. This was due to several reasons: Unlike the superheroes and supervillains of Earth-16, much of the planet's technology stopped working outside the planet's atmosphere due to the unique properties of Dust. Furthermore, while the populace of Earth-16 had previous foreknowledge about the existence of aliens, Remnant had no such knowledge, and the two interdimensional superpowers were willing to keep it that way for now.

Of course, neither the Republic nor Separatists were just going to turn a blind eye to events of the world, which was why several covert agents had been deployed by both sides, as well as native inhabitants who served as occasional eyes and ears. That was why he was here, after all.

So when Republic satellites detected that the Flood were moving towards Remnant, he had been sent to the location to determine where they planned to end up. And as he crushed a dozen combat and pure forms in a small singularity, he could say for certain that he knew their staging area.

If the Flood took control over Remnant, this would be very bad for the multiverse at large. Though Dust currently didn't work outside of Remnant's atmosphere, no one wanted to see if the Gravemind could find a way to get around that limitation. And the inhabitants themselves were extremely dangerous if their Aura and Semblances were unlocked.

Breaking through the treeline into the valley, he found himself staring at the bulk of the Flood forms on this world. It seemed that they were all waiting for him to show up, as weapons fire lit up where he used to be.

Summoning gravity to alter the bullet mass, the rounds halted in midair. Gesturing once more, he started to manipulate gravity again, this time either sending the Flood forms flying, crushing them, sending them flying and _then_ crushing them, and in the case of a large group summoning a singularity in the middle of them.

The people of this world thought his control over gravity was due to his 'Semblance'. He actually had enhanced cybernetics derived from the technology of the Spherus Magna Great Beings to thank for that.

Still, he didn't have the energy to sustain his elemental power indefinitely. Summoning his armor around him, he was just in time to prevent a Flood infection form from burrowing into his chest. Swatting the creature aside, the force from the armor crushed it against a nearby tree.

Spinning around, he pulled out his assault rifle, setting the ammo to disintegrate everyone it killed, leaving ionizing trails in the air with each round. On fully automatic, he started destroying dozens of combat forms, yet there were always a dozen more each time.

A Flood combat form leapt through the air, it's lunge sending it towards him. Raising his hand, the combat form's arc halted as it slammed into the ground, the soldier having increased its force of gravity.

The Flood abomination struggled to rise, but the effects of gravity refused to let up. It was still struggling when a burst of energy bolts reduced the monstrosity to ash. The soldier then put his hand to the side of his helmet.

"I need containment teams here, now!" Bill shouted, putting down another combat form at the same time.

Seconds later, several blue-white portals appeared all around him, causing the Flood to gravitate towards them. Just as a few combat forms reached the nearest one, they were crushed to death by the emerging Republic Mgalekgolo, whose energy shields absorbed the resulting attacks.

More Republic forces arrived, consisting of armored containment soldiers armed with hard light weaponry, jet troopers armed with flamethrowers, a few biotics to supplement his gravity powers, a few Sentinels and even several Yautja armed with Blazers.

He was slightly surprised to see Separatist forces as well, consisting mainly of infantry and heavy battle droids, Pirate aerotroopers, and Helghast armed with flame weapons. Normally, the two sides would be fighting against one another (not to mention they usually stuck to their own faction when dealing with containment), but a Flood outbreak wasn't the time to be picky about one's allies.

A stream of burning energy emerged from the Blazer, cutting a massive swath through the Flood lines. They were followed by an incendiary stream of fuel rod gel, which cleansed another wave from the dirt. Particle beams, Helix missiles, hard light rounds, Sentinel beams and explosions burned a hole into the Flood horde, slowly pushing them back into the mine.

Then air support arrived, as the heavily armed dropships and drone fighters/gunships on both sides strafed the tidal wave of Flood forms, blasting them apart with explosive rounds, energy bolts and missiles.

At first, it looked like the combined force would be enough to bury the Flood in the mine, but then a large explosion behind them alerted the Republic and Separatists to a new problem: The Flood had taken control of the mining devices and were attempting to bypass the Republic and Separatists by tunneling their way past.

Furthermore, to Bill's surprise, they had engaged in conflict with Atlas military forces, and they reacted with the same inexperience most soldiers had when dealing with the Parasite for the first time.

They panicked, firing wildly into the horde, their weapons rather ineffectual when compared to theirs. One exception was the white-haired woman who was slaughtering her way through the Flood combat forms, probably a Huntress from Atlas. Bill had no idea when Atlas had arrived and how long they'd been here, but this was another potential complication.

To make matters even worse, the Grimm started to show up, no doubt attracted to the negativity in the area. This turn of events was unfortunate, but the next turn was really unwelcome: The creatures of Grimm ignored the Flood, instead charging the Atlas forces and the two superpowers. Additionally, the Flood ignored the Grimm as well. Add onto the Aura that the combat forms were now projecting, and their Semblances, and it would only be a matter of time before the Flood overran Remnant.

"We need orbital fire support, NOW!"

As if called on command, two frigates entered the atmosphere, one Republic and one Separatist. Both ships were approximately 800 meters long and bristling with powerful weaponry. The Republic vessel unleashed a stream of energy from its ventral surface, which carved its way down to the mines, filling the tunnels with boiling energy and destroying the generator that powered the rift.

Meanwhile, the Separatist ship let loose with bolts of weapon fire, frying any Flood attempting to leave the island with pinpoint accuracy. Several combat forms attempted to leave with an Atlesian airship, but a bolt of hard light swatted the dropship from the sky.

In response, the Grimm turned their attention to the Republic and Separatists, attempting to maul them. But the creatures of darkness were no threat to the advanced weaponry of the multiversal superpowers, and Bill alone accounted for dozens of dead Grimm with his gravity powers.

Despite this, they knew that the Grimm were a distraction, to allow the Parasite time to escape. Immediately, Republic and Separatist forces started evacuating, covered by Separatist battle droids, in preparation for the complete destruction of the island by the orbiting warships.

Bill meanwhile, used his gravity powers and launched himself towards the Atlas forces, creating a singularity to temporarily give them some respite. Making a three-point landing, he unsurprisingly found himself at gun and sword point, the latter of which (he realized with a start) belonged to Winter Schnee.

"Identify yourself." Winter ordered, the blade of her weapon pointed at the cyborg's neck.

"I'm here to warn you." Bill quickly replied. "You need to get off the island. Right now."

"We're not going anywhere until you tell me who you are."

"There's no time to explain!" Bill said, gesturing at the approaching Flood and the retreating dropships. "We're turning this island to a cinder. It's the only way to keep the Flood from spreading."

"And what would make you think that we'd agree to let this happen?!" Winter demanded.

"If you don't, then your world will be consumed!" He countered.

There was a short moment of silence as Winter and the Atlas soldiers digested this information, some looking towards the horde of Flood and Grimm as they advanced across the island. Then Winter silently nodded in agreement and gave the order to fall back to their Bullheads.

As Bill watched them leave, he became aware of the gurgles and growls of the combined Flood and Grimm groups behind them. Exhausted, he nevertheless turned and prepared to launch another gravity attack when they were all destroyed by raking autocannon fire and missiles coming from a Helghast ATAC. Then a Republic dropship appeared behind him.

"Get in!" The crew chief shouted. "The bombardment's heading this way."

Bill didn't need to be told twice, taking the hand of one of a Quarren soldier, who pulled him into the troop bay. Safe and sound, the soldiers watched in silence as the Republic frigate carved the island apart, while the Separatist vessel picked off any Flood stragglers or the Nevermores that attempted to take them away.

After an hour, the bombardment was finished, and the entire mining facility and the island itself had been completely destroyed. Without the portal, the Flood couldn't sneak onto Remnant the same way. Still, it paid to be thorough.

The Republic and Separatist aircraft and fighters circled the remains of the island, while the advanced sensors of the frigates scanned for any surviving Flood forms. They couldn't afford to let one spore escape, lest they escape and overrun Remnant.

At long last, the superpowers could confirm the destruction of the Flood on this world. Just in time too. As Bill looked out the side of the troop bay, he saw a squadron of Bullheads and Remnant airships heading their way.

At this, the Republic and Separatist ships returned to their respective motherships. As soon as every dropship, gunship and fighter was aboard, the frigates vanished into the interdimensional void.

* * *

Winter couldn't believe what had just happened: the abominations had been destroyed by some sort of aliens and their ships. Worse still, they had reduced not only the mines, but the entire island to a field of glass.

Still, her thoughts drifted to the creatures she had seen on the island, those 'Flood' as that armored human had mentioned. She shuddered at the Parasite's ravenous nature, and prayed that they wouldn't return, as she could already see that they were far worse than the Grimm could ever be. Not to mention the implications when the Grimm just ignored the Flood...

Winter watched from her spot in the Bullhead as the strange ships vanished into portals. She had no clue what had just happened, but somehow, she just knew the events here would end up being classified.

She was shaken out of her musings when the radio started picking up the signals of approaching Atlas reinforcements. Of course, they were far too late to actually accomplish anything other than clean up.

Ready for the long trip home, she began thinking of the way that she was going to explain all of this to General Ironwood.

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**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.**


	13. Shepard

**Alright, now for something different: instead of just focusing on a particular franchise, I'm going to write a few one-shots that focuses on a character or group of characters, and their reactions/conflicts with the Flood. I'll still write the more franchise specific stories, but for now, I'd like to focus on characters and their reactions to the Parasite.**

**First up, it's Commander Shepard and crew from the Mass Effect series.**

* * *

Commander John Shepard and his crew ran through the wastes of this barely inhabitable planet. They had come here thanks to a distress call from an old pirate base, claiming to have information on stopping the Flood.

This damn war had started over a year ago (if you could call it a war), and everyone in the multiverse had been on the defensive against the vast armies that the Parasite could throw at them. Even the advanced technology of the Republic and Separatists was barely keeping the Flood at bay, and it was unclear how long that would last. So even when there was the slightest hint of a way to permanently stop them, there was no other choice but to investigate.

Though the crew was dubious (and Shepard himself was rather skeptical) of the claim, it was something they couldn't afford to ignore. Unfortunately, once they arrived they found that the base was abandoned, and seemingly had been for a long time.

To make matters even worse, the Flood had emerged from the ground around the bunker, having been lying in wait in order to ambush anyone who got the distress signal. Shepard grimaced at the thought of this whole thing being a Flood trap, hating these strange alien parasites.

After the horrifying work of the Reapers and their Husks, Shepard had thought that he had seen it all. Even after the multiverse was opened up to the galaxy, the Commander still thought there was nothing that could possibly be worse than what he had already faced.

How wrong he was.

He and the rest of the crew had been in complete shock when they learned about the Flood, each disgusted and horrified of their capabilities and what had been required to stop them. Full scale galactic extinction of all sentient life was something that even the Reapers wouldn't take lightly, so when they found out that that was required to end the Forerunner-Flood war... well, everyone had their own unique reactions to it.

Liara was aghast at how much destruction the Flood left in their wake, and the horrifying implication at how much life was lost in the firing of the Halo Array; hundreds of sentient species were likely wiped from existence because the Forerunners didn't have time to index every possible sentient species before the Flood descended upon them. As a former archeologist, that was horrifying on a completely different scale.

Ashley was horrified at the very nature of the Flood, and how they twisted life forms to their own purposes. But what stood out more was what they could do to AIs and even organics; the logic plague was even more insidious than Reaper indoctrination, because not only would it worm its way inside your head, but unlike indoctrination, every horrible decision made by those corrupted was effectively made of their own free will. If the Reapers had been demons, then the Flood and the Gravemind was the equivalent of Satan.

The soldier in Garrus admired how the Flood operated: they took everything that made their opponents strong and turned it against them. Nothing was wasted, and they even found ways to improve upon technology in ways that no one had even considered. The Turian in him realized that the Parasite possessed even greater strength than the rest of the IDA combined, and how they could spell the end of civilization.

Tali was horrified of the Flood for in both a physiological and slightly existential manner. Even with the upgraded suits and bolstered immune systems from living on Rannoch, their immune systems were even more vulnerable to the Parasite than most other species. They also represented a shift in her world view regarding the most dangerous threats in the multiverse. The Reapers and geth had previously shown that synthetics were among the most dangerous threat in their galaxy. Even after making peace with the geth, she still believed synthetics were the worse threat to organic life forms. Now the Flood proved that organics were far more dangerous, especially with the Parasite's use of the logic plague, making them dangerous to both organics _and_ synthetics.

With the events on Fehl Prime with the Collectors, and fighting through the Reaper war, James had allowed himself to believe that the worse was behind them. But then the multiverse opened up to a whole new level of insanity that surpassed what they had to deal with during the events leading up to the Reaper war. Then the Flood had appeared. After everything that happened, he was still struggling to take it all in.

As a synthetic life form, EDI didn't have the same fear of being infected by the Flood's biological nature, yet there was still something EDI was terrified of: The logic plague. She couldn't imagine betraying the crew of the _Normandy_, but the Gravemind had managed to convince other, far more advanced AIs to turn on their creators without hesitation or mercy. And the Flood had done this with ease to even the most hyper-advanced AIs in the form of the Reapers and Forerunner metarch ancillas.

Even Javik, who had seen Reaper nightmares from two different eras was rendered speechless by both the monstrous nature of the Parasite, and the steps necessary to stop them. The Forerunners had been a hundred times stronger than the Protheans or Reapers ever could be, and yet they fell to the ravenous nature of the Flood. Like Garrus, he appreciated the effectiveness of the Flood's MO; taking their opponent's strength and turning it against them. The Prothean in him was disgusted at just how much they twisted organic life to their own ends. Not even the Reapers had been that bad.

Shaking out of his musings, Shepard had ensured everyone's weapons were loaded with incendiary rounds. Javik was the only one who wasn't using them, as his Particle Rifle was more than sufficient to bring down a Flood form, and even better, dissolve the corpse so it couldn't be reused.

Standard Mass Accelerator fire wouldn't do much to a Flood form, since their insides had been liquified. Headshots also didn't have much of an effect, as the Flood had mutated the body past the need for their head.

Shepard rose up from cover and fired on the nearest Flood form. The Incendiary ammunition cooked the former turian from the inside, reducing it to a pile of ash. A second burst tore through a Brute combat form before a burst of spikes impacted the Commander's shields and forced him behind cover.

"Damnit!" Shepard swore. "Garrus, take out that Ranged Form!"

"I'm on it!" The sniper replied, and seconds later, a shot rang out. "Scoped and dropped."

Despite that brief respite, the Flood kept swarming through. Javik unleashed Dark Channel through the ranks of the Parasite, complemented by biotic explosions detonated by Liara's own biotics. Despite all that, it was a losing battle, and everyone knew it. They couldn't hold this position for much longer.

"Everyone, into the bunker!" Shepard shouted.

The squad beat a hasty retreat into the fallback bunker behind them. As soon as everyone was inside, Tali activated her omni-tool and sealed the door nanoseconds before the Flood could get inside.

"How long will that hold?" Garrus asked.

"Not long." Tali responded, holding up her omni-tool.

As if to confirm that, the sound of limbs pounding on the door started filtering into the room, followed by sporadic weapon fire. Already, the sheer number of Flood forms was straining the door at its seams.

"We need to get out of here, now." Shepard said, before activating his radio. "Cortez, we need a pickup at the roof of the base."

"That may prove difficult, Commander." Cortez responded. "The Flood are massing around the facility, and I'm not sure how long it'll be until they force their way in."

"Commander, we have another problem." Joker's voice broke through the link. "I'm detecting hundreds of Flood infected ships coming out of FTL."

"Have they spotted you?" Shepard asked with no small amount of concern.

"Negative." This time it was EDI who reported. "The Republic-issue cloaking device is sufficient at keeping us hidden. However, there is a significant risk of incoming collisions with the Flood vessels."

"Copy that. We'll head to the roof now." Shepard responded. "Cortez, prep for a quick exfil."

Filtering out the acknowledgement of his crew, Shepard led them deeper into the bunker just as the horde of Flood finally breached the doors. The Normandy crew made a fighting retreat through the depths of the building, with the tide of Parasites hot on their heels, occasionally halting to toss a grenade into the mass of Flood.

As they ran towards their only chance of escape, Shepard couldn't help but marvel at how badly this war was going. It had only been a year since the conflict with the Flood had started, and already, it rivaled the scope of the Reaper War, Yuuzhan Vong war, and the Human-Covenant War... combined!

It was only thanks to the Republic and the Separatists that the IDA was lasting as long as they were. Without their support, calculations showed that the IDA would fall to the Flood within a matter of weeks. And without the IDA, Citadel Space and the Terminus Systems would fall in a matter of _days_.

Shaking off that depressing train of thought, Shepard turned to see Tali sealing every door as the team passed through the threshold, slowing the Parasite long enough for them to get to the roof.

"Commander," EDI's voice broke through the comms. "The Flood are launching spore capsules on your position. Recommend that you equip breathers before going outside."

"Copy that, EDI." Shepard quickly turned to the team. "You heard the lady, helmets on, and seal your suits."

The Normandy crew made their way up to the roof entrance., putting on breath masks, helmets and sealing the suits to prevent Flood spores from permeating the filters. Once that was done, they breached the stairwell.

Seconds later, the Team broke through the door to the roof, where Cortez was circling with the Kodiak. Outside the bunker, a veritable sea of green was surrounding the building, as dozens of Flood Dispersal pods dropped to the ground from orbit.

As they made for the LZ, several Pure Stalker forms crawled up from the ledge of the roof and quickly shifted into Tank forms. The large Flood beasts growled and charged as a host of combat forms broke through the door. Throughout the horde, they could hear one voice speaking.

"The Reapers have served their purpose." The rasping baritone of the Gravemind echoed from all around them. "They regarded 'Shepard' as their greatest threat."

"You'll find I'm full of surprises." Shepard growled, firing a burst from his rifle which took a combat form down. "The Reapers found that out the hard way!"

"They were designed to be weak." The Gravemind droned on, sounding bored of Shepard's ranting. "You were proof of that."

It was at this point that Shepard could really see the difference between the Flood and their Reaper servants. Unlike the Reapers, the Flood were really like a force of nature. Considering how they were slowly but surely 'flooding' throught the multiverse, they certainly lived up to their name and reputation.

Still, that didn't mean that Shepard was just going to take the Gravemind's insults.

"You are a cancer." The Commander stated as he stabbed and eviscerated a tank form with his omni-blade. "Nothing more than a parasite."

"We are one, we are legion." The Mind countered. "You are one man in charge of weaklings."

"My team gives me strength!" Shepard shouted in defiance. The Gravemind's response sent a shiver up his spine.

"Any bond can be broken." It said this not as a warning, or threat, but as a statement of fact. "It just needs a little push."

"Shepard!" Garrus' voice brought his gaze to the shuttle. "We have to go!"

Taking a brief look around, Shepard realized that the rest of the team had already extracted in the shuttle, and were providing covering fire against the horde of Flood. With a start, Shepard also noticed that dozens of combat and pure forms were crawling or leaping up to the rooftop.

Turning to the shuttle, he sprinted and leapt up, grabbing the edge of the of the troop bay. Rounds followed him, but the twisted nature of the Parasite meant that the bulk of their shots were wild and inaccurate. Garrus and Tali provided covering fire while Ashley and Liara pulled the heavily armed Commander into the troop bay. Once inside, the shuttle hatch sealed and Shepard banged his fist on the door to the cockpit.

"Cortez, get us out of here!"

With that command, the shuttle took off into the atmosphere, followed by the tracer fire of hundreds of weapons. The barriers provided enough protection for the shuttle to get out of range, heading towards the modified stealth frigate in orbit.

As the shuttle burst into orbit, Shepard watched as the planet below was slowly engulfed in a sea of green. As the nameless world as terraformed into another of the Parasite's wretched hives, Shepard felt something he hadn't felt since the Reaper War.

Hopelessness.

* * *

**Alright, so I want to clarify (and I tried to make it clear in this one shot) that the Flood is more of a force of nature and a greater threat than the Reapers could ever claim to be. The Reapers were synthetics, but were created by organics. In contrast, the Flood were always organic, and to top off their eldritch nature, they apparently existed before time itself.**

**Besides, the Reapers seemingly beat everyone by being stronger, but really, they only make sure that everyone else is weaker than them. By contrast, the Flood takes their enemy's strength and turns it against them, like they did with the Forerunners. In terms of what would be more terrifying, the Flood wins, hands down, even without me increasing their threat level in my stories. It makes sense that Shepard and co would be more terrified of the Flood than the Reapers.**

**Sorry for that rant there, it's just something I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while. And after reading a number of crossovers (not just with Halo) that buff the Reapers to some ridiculous degrees, I felt that it needed to be said.**

**Alright, now I have some ideas for the next 'hero' chapters; the next one's going to involve Samus Aran, and the one after that, I'm undecided on, but I think I'll have it focus on Han Solo and/or Boba Fett, so look forward to that.**

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are always welcome.**


	14. Samus

**Well, I said that I would make the next chapter with the focus on Samus Aran, and that's what I've done. I also said in a previous chapter that I was saving the infected Nightmare for a special occasion. Why did I bring that up now?... No reason. *Evil laugh***

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the franchises in this story.**

* * *

Samus Aran made her way through the Chozo Ruins on this unnamed world. All throughout her journey, she had been set upon by wave after wave of Flood pure and combat forms, all seeking to hinder her mission.

She dispatched them all with relative ease, but each attack caused a delay in her mission, one which could ensure the Flood's total defeat. Still, fighting through the Parasite was disconcerting enough, but her anxiety levels were even worse considering her current... 'companion'.

Her musings were interrupted when a pair of Ranged forms began bombarding her with spikes from the sides of the nearby walls. The damage they did to her suit was negligible, and her retalitation with her Plasma Beam burned them off the wall.

As another horde of Flood made their way through the ruins, they began firing on her with all the weapons they had. Fortunately, their aim was sloppy and the few hits she sustained were absorbed by the shielding in her armor. Aiming her arm cannon, she retaliated with an Ice Spreader blast, covering the ground and walls with ice, and encasing the Flood within it.

With the cluster of Flood forms frozen in their tracks, Samus responded by unleashing a Super Missile into the block of ice, shattering the formation into thousands of pieces. Another line of Flood rushed forward to take their place, but before Samus could fire, a massive beam of plasma swept by from overhead, reducing the Flood forms to ash.

The beam ceased to exist centimeters from the ex-bounty hunter's position, and Samus had to restrain herself from targeting the screeching roar that came from the shadow that flew overhead.

Ridley flew past with a shriek, breathing another jet of plasma at a swarm of Flood flyers that attempted to engage him. The cyborg Space Pirate general tore through the ranks of the Flood, then proceeded to drop explosives on the massing combat and Pure forms below.

Samus still couldn't believe that this was happening. When she had agreed with the Republic's agreement to help the Separatists, she couldn't imagine that her nemesis would be deployed to the same planet, let alone having to fight on his side.

Then again, considering that this war had been dragging on for four years already, and even the Republic and Separatists were being stretched thin. It didn't help that the Flood had the bodies of the entire Universal Union to throw at them (unknown to the rest of the IDA), and it was unlikely the Parasite would run out of bodies for a long time. They needed to find a way to end the war soon, or nothing would be left.

Shaking off those thoughts, the ex-Bounty Hunter charged a burst before firing her Zero Laser in a sweeping motion, carving through the next wave of Flood forms. Unfortunately, they kept coming, leaving her with no choice but to use her Power Bombs.

Activating her Morph Ball, the Flood horde was just on top of her when the Power Bomb detonated. The resulting explosion consumed every Flood form within the blast radius, leaving a large crater around Samus.

When she got out of her Morph Ball, she was unsurprised to see more of the Parasite charging towards her. Ridley's plasma breath began thinning out out the horde, before explosions and screeching drew her attention to the infected gunships firing on the Space Pirate General. As she put combat and pure forms down, she could hear a taunting voice coming from all of them.

"The Chozo Hatchling." The voice of the Gravemind spoke that title as an insult. "The last survivor of the once great race. You will fall as they did."

Samus ignored the Gravemind's taunts and activated her Speed Booster, sprinting through the hordes of Flood forms that got in her way. The high speeds and kinetic energy tore dozens of them to shreds.

She sprinted through the ruins until she found what she was looking for: The Chozo temple. Rushing inside, she quickly opened the door before sealing herself in. Inside, it was quiet as a tomb, a sharp contrast to the battle raging outside.

Walking into the temple, she saw her prize just sitting on a dais. Two Chozo statues watched over the dais, appearing to be simply decoration, but Samus knew that the statues would turn on anyone who dared to desecrate the temple. With her overview of the temple done, she walked up to the artifact itself.

It was a small device, in the shape of a blank stone pyramid with a small blue crystal at the top. Despite the stone carving, it had a metallic sheen to it, and was floating a couple inches off the pedestal.

Samus grabbed the device, the pyramidal shaped artifact easily fitting into the palm of her hand. It was hard to believe such a small thing could hold the power needed to end the Flood threat once and for all.

With a flash, her suit absorbed the artifact, converting it into energy to store it for safekeeping. Once that was done, Samus ran back out to the entrance where Ridley was holding an army of Flood at bay.

As the ex-Bounty Hunter joined up with her 'ally', she noticed that the number of Flood had gone up considerably in her absence. Ridley was being hard pressed to hold them off. As much as Samus wanted him to die, she didn't want to have to fight a Flood-infected Ridley.

With a sigh, she turned her Arm Cannon on the nearest Flood Pure form and fired, reducing it to ashes. On and on the slaughter went, as the dragon and the hunter tore their way through the Flood ranks. As the horde finally thinned out, a loud crackling noise drew their attention upwards.

Massive portals opened in the sky, and incredibly large and sickly tentacles slithered out. Thousands of infected warships and other forms flew out between the tentacles, looking like tiny dots in orbit. One of those dots slowly grew larger and larger until it became a familiar shape.

A screeching noise mixed with the bloodcurdling howl of the Flood drew Samus' attention to the familiar shape flying through the air, only it was twisted beyond measure. It was an infected Nightmare, coated with the sickly green tentacles of the Flood. Gravity distorted even more than usual, forcing Samus' Gravity suit to compensate for the shifting. A shift in gravity sent Ridley sprawling into the ground, his cybernetic enhancements staving off the worst of Nightmare's effects.

The Flood twisted monstrosity had seemed to gain some new tricks of its own, as Samus leapt to the side, avoiding a wave of gravity that sent every loose object and piece of debris flying into the air before being slammed into the ground at crushing speed.

Samus avoided Nightmare's strikes again and again, while retaliating with her own combined beams. She didn't attempt to use her missiles, knowing that Nightmare would just cause them to go flying out of control as long as its gravity manipulator was operational.

Beams of energy struck out of Nightmare's arms, several of them impacting Samus, stunning her and draining one of her energy tanks. Nightmare was about to retaliate with a more destructive gravity wave when it was forced back by a beam of orange. Ridley had become airborne again and struck Nightmare with more attacks.

Shrieking and screeching from the two monsters competed for dominance as Ridley's bombs and missiles were harmlessly cast aside by Nightmare's gravity manipulations, while the dragon avoided several of Nightmare's blasts by twisting in midair.

While Ridley kept Nightmare occupied, Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at the infected bioweapon, firing off an enhanced Super Missile once she was sure it was more focused on Ridley than on her. She had targeted the gravity manipulater, but Nightmare must have realized what she was doing, as it spun around and redirected the Missile before it could connect.

Unfortunately for it, the missile was too close, and blew off Nightmare's mask revealing its infected face. It was even more disgusting than before: half it's eyes now had Flood tendrils leaking out, a trail of vomit, slithered out of its mouth, and its complexion was a bloated, with a much more sickly yellow color than green.

With a shrieking cry mixed with the howling of the Flood, Nightmare fired off an energy beam from its mouth, which Samus deftly somersaulted away from. The beam swept after her until explosives impacted the mutated bioweapon causing it to shriek and turn its beam towards Ridley, who rolled deftly through the air to avoid it.

Samus used Nightmare's distraction to fire another Super Missile at Nightmare's gravity manipulator, this time striking head on. A follow up barrage from her Plasma beam finally destroyed the manipulator, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the bioweapon's ability to manipulate gravity.

Even with the loss of its mask and main means of defense and offense, the infected Nightmare was damn near impossible to beat on her own. Taking a brief look at her nemesis, Samus knew what had to be done.

With barely contained anger, she sent a signal to Ridley's comms, who briefly turned to glare at her with resigned fury before giving a brief nod. The two of them launched explosives at the same time, both of which were deflected by Nightmare's gravity. This was all part of the plan, as the two of them needed a second's distraction to charge up their most powerful attacks. They released them at the same time.

With a combined strike of both the Zero Laser and Ridley's plasma breath, Nightmare was finally brought down for good as his body overloaded and exploded. However, that didn't stop the thousands of other Flood forms that began making their way towards the two unlikely companions in the aftermath of Nightmare's attack.

The two of them separated and ran (or flew, in Ridley's case), as inaccurate weapon fire chased the ex-Bounty Hunter and Space Pirate General as they made their escape from this world.

Activating her Command Visor, Samus summoned her gunship to her, leaping onto the top hatch as soon as it appeared over a nearby rise. Retreating inside, she set a course for Republic space as soon as she was in the cockpit.

Out in the upper atmosphere, she weaved through the infected fighters and ships, in some cases shooting them down with her ship's missiles as she flew through the Flood formations. She easily avoided the massive tentacles as she made into orbit.

On her sensor screen, she idly took note as Ridley flew through the clouds of Flood forms and made his way to his own ship. Just then, her computer alerted her that the necessary coordinates had been plotted.

Keying the controls, the gunship leapt into interdimensional space, leaving the planet behind as the Flood converted the world into another of their hives.

* * *

**Well, that's the end of Nightmare... again. Seriously, how many times does Samus have to kill a boss in the Metroid series before it actually stays dead?! Still, I hope I did the battle justice.**

**Now, I'm going to talk about one aspect that I'm sure was a surprise; Samus working alongside Ridley. First off, I want to emphasize that this is not a normal occurence, and that the only reason this happened at all was because the war with the Flood had gotten that bad. They still want to kill each other, so don't expect something like this to ever happen again.**

**All that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.**


	15. Han Solo

**Hi guys, I'm back. Sorry it's taken me so long to get a new chapter out, but I've been busy with so many other stories, not to mention school and work. Regardless, I'm back and ready with the latest chapter.**

**So, I know the in the previous chapter I said I would make it about Boba Fett, but I decided to add Han in as well. So yeah, both of them will be present here, so I hope you enjoy that.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Halo.**

* * *

The _Millennium Falcon_ emerged from hyperspace over the planet Concord Dawn. With practiced ease, Han Solo guided the _Falcon_ towards the planet below, making sure his approach didn't look hostile.

"Unidentified ship, you are trespassing in Mandalorian space." A voice crackled over the comms as aft sensors picked up two ships coming up behind them. "Identify yourself and explain your purpose here."

"This is Captain Han Solo aboard the _Millennium Falcon_." The smuggler replied, going against every instinct he had to give out a false name and ID. "I requested a meeting with Mandalore Boba Fett on the planet's surface."

There was a moment of silence as the pilots of the ships no doubt checked in with their ground control. Han just hoped that Boba wasn't playing some trick. With the Flood on the loose all over the multiverse, the last thing he needed was someone trying to settle some old scores.

"Copy that, Captain Solo." The ships finally replied. "We are to escort you to the meeting point."

"Acknowledged."

Han followed the two ships as they flew in front, revealing themselves to be Firesprays, the same class as Boba's own _Slave I_. As Han followed, his mind drifted back to how he had come here. The Flood had landed in the Outer Rim some weeks ago, and had since been carving a bloody path through the galaxy.

A parasitical life form possessing a ravenous hunger and unprecedented growth rate, the only reliable way to destroy the Parasite was Base Delta Zero. One of the most horrific tactics used in any previous war, it had proven to be the only effective strategy to use against the Flood.

Many politicians had balked, some of the more vocal anti-human leaders claiming that it was the second coming of Palpatine's Empire. Those shouts had been quelled rather quickly when reports of the Parasite overrunning worlds within hours made their way to the Core. Combined with the UNSC threat assessment on the Flood, and for once the Senate was actually stepping aside for the military, rather than actively hindering them.

They even extended a hand to the Jedi, who had essentially been in exile since the incident with Abeloth. Riots and disruptions had broken out all over the galaxy, and the Jedi were needed once more to keep the peace.

Of course, the galaxy had another problem. There were so many starships with hyperspace capabilities in the galaxy, that even the most backwater worlds could serve as an infection vector for the Flood. If it wasn't for the help of the Republic and Separatists, it was theorized that the entire galaxy would've fallen in a matter of days.

The only thing Han had ever faced that would be even remotely comparable to this was an Imperial Bioweapon that he had encountered while he had been briefly captured alongside Chewie before the Battle of Yavin.

The Sickness, as it was called, had killed and brought the undead back to life, turning them into flesh-eating monsters that could learn to operate weapons and vehicles. An entire Star Destroyer had been overrun by this virus, and it was only halted due to the lack of airborne contaminants outside the Destroyer. And all that still paled in comparison to what the Flood could do.

The Galactic Alliance had never dealt with a threat of this magnitude before. This was a lifeform that took the strengths of a civilization and turned it against them, using their own technology and weapons far beyond what was believed possible. Even the destruction wrought by the Yuuzhan Vong and Abeloth paled in comparison to this. And even still, it almost felt like the Flood was holding back.

And with the Jedi being called upon to protect the galaxy once more, Han found himself separated from his family at the behest of the Galactic Alliance. Chief of State Wynn Dorvan had asked him to contact the Mandalorians and get their aid in dealing with the Parasite.

Han had initially protested, but relented when Leia had pointed out that Boba Fett might actually listen to him if he phrased his request correctly. The Mandalorian leader had apparently been in a much better mood since the Moff nanovirus that had been released on Mandalore had been dispersed. The fact that Han was able to get a meeting with him at all was proof enough of this fact.

Still, it would take a miracle to get the Mandalorians to recognize the threat. Han wished he could've had Leia or Jaina with him, but the former was needed in meetings with the IDA, while the latter was often on the front lines in her starfighter.

He pushed his thoughts aside as he touched down on the landing pad, which was little more than a patch of rough ground in the middle of a field of grass. Locking the _Falcon_ down, Han headed to the landing ramp, where two green armored Mandalorians waited at the bottom.

"Captain Solo, we will take you to see the Manda'lor." One gestured forward. "If you would follow us." His tone made it clear that it was not for discussion.

Han followed along and soon they reached the meeting spot. It wasn't some grand hall or government building, as would be expected from most other planets. It was a tavern, an old run down place that barely saw customers anymore. It was locations like these that the Mandalorians used as their community halls.

Two more Mandalorians stood in front of the door, briefly halting the procession to scan Han and relieve him of his blaster. While the smuggler was loath to go anywhere without his weapon, he knew Mandalorian culture enough to know that they wouldn't just shoot him dead.

Entering the tavern, he found that it was filled with more Mandos, all dressed in full armor in a wide variety of colors. It wasn't hard to figure out where Fett was. He was sitting in a corner booth, with his helmet off and on the table. His hair was grey, and his face was scarred, yet he still had the same intelligence and ruthlessness that Fett had during his prime.

Han walked over and sat down on the opposite end of the table, where the rest of the Mandos took up position around them. Boba looked up into Han's eyes and the two had a brief staredown.

"Han Solo." Boba broke the silence at last. "What brings you to our sector of space?"

"If you've been following current events, then you would know about the Flood." Like Boba, Han decided to skip the small talk and jump straight to the main point. And a quick nod from the former bounty hunter was all the answer he needed. "We need your help in dealing with them. It's a threat unlike any the galaxy has ever faced."

Boba Fett sat quietly in the booth and listened to Han's request. He knew exactly what the multiverse's current circumstances were and how the Galactic Alliance was getting their shebs kicked, even with the help of the multiversal superpowers.

Boba had previously thought that the Yuuzhan Vong had been the worst threat the galaxy had ever seen. Considering they cost 365 trillion lives in the long and brutal war, the extragalactic invaders had seemed unstoppable.

Then he had encountered Abeloth, fighting alongside Tahiri Veila against the so-called Bringer of Chaos. Initially, he hadn't believed the ex-Jedi's warning about Abeloth being more of a force of nature than any other Force-user he had ever fought. That opinion changed quickly, especially when it required an orbital strike to kill just one of her bodies.

The Flood put them both to shame.

The biological horrors created during the Vong's empire paled in comparison to what the Flood could do. If anything, the Vong were even more susceptible to the Flood, judging by their infected vessels.

Unlike Tsavong Lah, the Flood could sustain the constant horde mentality, for the simple reason that every body the Parasite killed was just added to their own numbers. The Flood would only grow stronger with every victory. Some species had already vanished completely, either because they were destroyed by the Flood or had fled.

No one had heard from Zonama Sekot in a while. According to rumors, the living planet had vanished into hyperspace after the Flood had shown up. But since Sekot was a living planet filled with Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, that was probably for the best.

And the Flood were apparently proving to be a growing antithesis to the Jedi, more than Abeloth ever was. There had been rumors that the Flood had actually corrupted the Force itself, which was making it difficult for any Force-user to use their power. Boba didn't want to believe it, but even before he heard about that, he could feel a general feeling of... wrongness. Like something was off in the galaxy. No one else said anything, but it was clear the other Mandos were feeling the same.

Frankly, it was no wonder that the rest of the galaxy needed the Mandalorians, but Boba wasn't really willing to throw them into a war that wasn't theirs. Of course, if even half of the rumors about the Flood were true, then they wouldn't care about anyone's neutrality.

Privately, after seeing what a monster like Abeloth could do, the ex-bounty hunter was willing to believe Han when he said that the Flood were a far more dangerous threat to the galaxy than everything they had ever faced.

The difficulty was convincing the rest of the clans to follow that decree. Although Fett was technically the leader of all Mandalorians, he couldn't just order them into a war they didn't want. Without facing the threat themselves, many clans were just willing to remain in isolation, as the Flood had yet to move into the Mandalorian sector.

"I wish I could help you Solo." And this wasn't a platitude, he truly meant that. "But the clans are tired of being fodder for the aruetiise. They don't believe the Flood are a threat to Mandalore."

"Damn it, Boba." Han slammed his fist on the table, briefly drawing the attention of every blaster in the room. "The Vong didn't leave you alone. Why would the Flood?"

"It's not my call to make." The Mandalorian said. "Unless the threat comes to us, I can't convince the rest of my people to help you."

"Sir." One of the guards interrupted, with a hand to his helmet. "We have unidentified ships inbound towards the planet. Lots of them."

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested that information. Then a dozen blasters were pointed at Han, who raised his hands to placate them. "Easy now. I don't have anything to do with that."

"What's their composition?" Boba asked, his aim not wavering.

"Mostly civilian craft. They're not responding to our hails, and they're on a straight path for the planet. We're also getting some strange bio readings from each ship."

Han and Boba's eyes widened as they looked at each other. If a bunch of civilian ships were on a straight path for the planet, and ignoring any and all calls from heavily armed Mandalorian ships for them to stop, then they were either brave, suicidal, or worse, infected by the Flood. And the bio readings confirmed the latter theory.

"Shoot them down." Boba ordered. "Shoot them all down now!"

Han had no objection for once. He ran outside the tavern, following the rest of the Mandalorians as they headed outside to witness the battle above. In the skies over the planet, dozens of Mandalorian ships targetted the ships and fired, tearing through the civilian grade shielding with laser bolts, proton torpedos, concussion missiles and more.

In spite of all the casualties they were suffering, the Flood continued forward, their sole target was the planet itself. The Mandalorians formed a blockade, bringing out a pair of old Venator-class Star Destroyers from behind the planet.

A wall of turbolaser fire lit up the vacuum between the two sides, as energy blasts shredded the civilian ships with contemptuous ease. Still, it was twenty ships against 300, and unlike the Mandalorians, the Flood didn't care about losses. The few armed combat ships on their side tore through any fighter in their path as they slipped through the cracks in the Mando defenses, heading for a crash landing on the planet's surface. Still others attempted to crash into the Mando ships themselves.

One of the few ships that broke through the blockade was covered in flames and was barely holding together. It still held together long enough to crash outside the town where Han had met with Boba and the Mandalorians.

"We need to leave, right now." Han said, having recovered his blaster and aiming it in the direction of the ship. "This place needs to be burned to the ground."

An unnatural howling broke through the air, interrupting whatever Boba had to say in response. Twisted combat forms leapt onto the roofs of several buildings, while still others just ran through the streets. Many of them were holding blasters, which erupted in a firestorm of red energy as the Mandalorians returned fire, many using flamethrowers as their beskar armor capable of holding off the weaponry fired at them.

They were less capable of holding off Flood infection forms, as a couple Mandalorians found out the hard way. One of the squid-like creatures latched onto a Mandalorian's chest, slipping through the cracks in his armor.

They started to change, with Flood biomass forcing armor plating off. The cancerous growths forced their way through the top half of the undersuit, forcing one arm to be replaced with a whip-like appendage. Their helmets were forced off from the change, their screams of pain and agony twisted into the angry howls of the Flood.

The two new combat forms took aim with their gauntlets and fired mini-rockets from their wrists, killing another group of Mandalorians before they were torched by the flamethrowers of the nearest combatants.

Han, having witnessed the whole thing, turned to Boba, who was taking steady aim with his EE-3 blaster rifle, tearing through combat forms with each burst. Han added his own blasterfire from his DL-44, which tore through a Bith combat form.

"Boba we have to leave!" Han shouted. "They're not going to stop coming."

It took a moment for Boba to respond, busy as he was with killing the Flood. But eventually he turned and nodded. "Everyone retreat!" The Manda'lor shouted. "Get to your ships, right now!"

They all began to retreat, the ones with jetpacks providing covering fire to the ones without them. Han himself began running towards the _Millennium Falcon_, only to be surprised when he felt himself rising through the air. Looking up, he was surprised to see Boba holding him as they flew towards the _Falcon_.

"Don't get any ideas, Solo."

Han chose not to say anything, and soon Boba deposited him at the landing ramp of the _Falcon_, before he took off to get to _Slave I_ and get off the planet. Running up the boarding ramp, Han shut the hatch just before any Flood forms could reach the ship.

Sprinting to the cockpit, the ex-smuggler kicked the engines into gear, lifting off from the planet's surface and blasting through any Flood form behind the ship as it rocketed towards space.

That was when Han noticed a new problem: The two Mandalorian Venators were now trading fire with each other, one of them having obviously been boarded and infested by the Flood. The infested Venator had small green growths emerging the holes in their hull, and their weapon fire lanced from ship to ship, occasionally intercepting smaller vessels with fatal results.

Unnervingly, the Flood vessel had a noticeably superior degree of accuracy and firepower in comparison to the Mandalorian counterpart, no doubt due to the Parasite's almost supernatural ability to take technology and make it even better. And try as they might, the greatest scientists in the galaxy couldn't even hope to replicate the effects.

Han blinked as the sensors alerted him to two fighters coming up behind him. With a flare of light, laserfire impacted the rear of the ship, absorbed by the rear deflector shields. Han sent the _Falcon_ into a roll, presenting a harder target for the Flood behind him.

He tried to make a jump to hyperspace, only to find the hyperdrive wouldn't respond. The reasoning became clear when the sensors detected the presence of Hapan mass shadow mines trapping all the combatants in the battle.

Muttering a curse, Han activated the automated systems on the quad lasers, having installed that feature some time ago. Normally, he would've preferred to have actual gunners, but with everyone busy dealing with the Parasite, he was a little short handed in regards to crew requirements.

It wasn't perfect, but the lasers managed to destroy one of the ships that was pursuing him. The second fighter drew back a bit, and kept pounding the _Falcon's_ rear quarter. Already, the rear deflectors were in the red, forcing Han to divert power to the back in order to protect his ship.

Suddenly, the fighter chasing him vanished from sensors, and was replaced by the unmistakable profile of _Slave I_, which flew up beside Han's ship. "You owe me one, Solo." Boba's smug voice appeared over the comm.

Han rolled his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, how do you plan on getting out of here?"

"There's one hyperspace route known only to Mandalorians. The Flood haven't deployed any mass shadow mines there, so they clearly don't know about it."

"Not yet, anyway." Han frowned. "If anyone the Flood have infected knew about this, then they will know about it."

"All the more reason to leave now." Boba replied. "I'm sending you the coordinates. I think it's safe to say the Mandalorians will be aiding you against the Flood."

And with a flicker of pseudomotion, _Slave I_ leapt into hyperspace, followed by the nearest Mandalorians. Han quickly followed, and as soon as the ship was safely in hyperspace, he leaned back and sighed.

"Mandalorian aid, huh? I doubt it'll be enough."

* * *

**Alright, another completed chapter. For the next one, I plan on doing something a little different. It'll mainly be the Citadel Council's reaction to the Flood. What will happen there? Will the Council go "Ah yes, 'Flood,'" like they always do? You'll just have to wait and see. **

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.**


	16. Citadel Council

**Alright, well I promised a chapter involving the Citadel Council and here it is. Though to be clear, it will also have appearances by political and military officials of several other franchises as well.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Halo, Star Wars, Metroid, or anything else that appears in this story. As usual.**

* * *

In the darkness of the vacuum, a lone vessel flew, seemingly aimless in its direction. Onboard the ship, the original crew had been killed, and were now replaced with sickly green and yellow monstrosities, moving through the vessel with a higher purpose.

On the bridge, the once stark and clean control room had been turned into a grotesque fungal-like nest, with a large glob of biomass in the center of the room. Tendrils spread from the center, manipulating the controls as it's mind strived for connection with the greater whole.

Below decks, the parasitical life forms were learning about the drive, striving to understand what the drive was capable of. The minds of the consumed engineers could grasp what it was capable of, but they still needed more. All absorbed thoughts primarily spoke of their own galaxy, of their homes, of their families.

All the Flood cared about was that they could gain more bodies to infect, and gain them quickly. And a universe away, a massive shape stirred in the stars. It was finally time, the dam would burst.

* * *

The Council Chambers were sealed as the current residents watched the video recordings that they had managed to recover from their disastrous expedition to that Forerunner gas mine. And they learned just why ONI and those Kig-Yar pirates had told them to stay away.

Councilors Tevos, Valern, Sparatus and Osoba watched with varying degrees of horror as the unleashed abominations tore through and corrupted their own species and turned them into monsters. Each one had their own specific thoughts on the matter.

Sparatus was disgusted and horrified at these monstrosities, and was perfectly willing to order that gas mine to be destroyed. He was also concerned however, since these parasites had apparently hijacked the Turian ship that was leading the expedition and taken them off to Spirits-knows-where.

Tevos could barely hold the contents of her stomach in. She had thought the abominations created by the Reapers were bad, but this, this was an entirely different level. She could see now why the UNSC and Sangheili wanted these things buried.

Valern studied the feed with curiousity, trying to understand what these creatures were and how they could be stopped. In spite of their danger, he was already planning on capturing these creatures and studying them, hoping to find a cure or bioweapon for these things. Maybe even find some way to control them.

Dominic Osoba was absolutely horrified at these creatures. He had lost his son during the Reaper war, which had millions of twisted monstrosities. And these abominations made even the worst Reaper creatures look like kittens.

"We need to alert the rest of the IDA." Osoba finally found his voice. "We're clearly dealing with something we don't understand."

"That may be a mistake." Valern interrupted. "UNSC and Sangheili will likely react badly to our breach."

"So let them." Sparatus growled, folding his arms. "They neglected to warn us about this threat."

"And we broke their rules." Tevos replied. "Not to mention we blindly rushed in, without pausing to think about why both ONI and those pirates warned us to stay away."

All of their omni-tools lit up as a message came for the Council. It was a very strongly worded request from Lord Hood and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam for a meeting within the next day. All of the IDA delegates were to attend as well. There was no subject, but the Councilors could guess what they wanted to discuss. Sparatus looked at the feed then back at the omni-tool and sighed.

"Looks like we'll find out what we're dealing with soon enough."

* * *

The IDA leadership often met on the Citadel to discuss various situations that affected their governments and territories as a whole. Currently, another such discussion was in progress, about a very serious problem. It would be miraculous if it was done with any degree of civility.

"What in god's name were you thinking?!" Lord Terrence Hood shouted.

Normally one of the calmer people at these gatherings, the fact that he now wore an expression of barely contained fury didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the delegates. To say many of them were terrified of what could cause him to shout would be an understatement.

"I must admit, I'm curious to hear your explanation for these events." GA Chief of State Wynn Dorvan was clearly pissed as well.

"We only desired to learn." Valern tried to defend himself. "To understand what you would consider so dangerous to have it stricken from your records-"

"Did it ever occur to you that we did that for a reason?" Arbiter 'Vadam stated. "We desired to keep fools like many of you from unleashing the Flood in the same form the Covenant once did."

"You could've told us the truth." Tevos pointed out. "You could've told us what was on that station and why it was locked away."

"Would you have believed us if we told you?" Hood retorted. "Or would you gone out and done exactly what you did?"

"That's absurd." Valern said. "We would have taken every precaution-"

"ONI has the records of your previous experiments." Hood interrupted with a dangerous look in his eyes. "Do you want to try that again?" Valern's mouth instantly snapped shut.

"Getting back to the topic at hand." Wynn Dorvan interrupted. "We need to discuss how to deal with this Flood, as you called them."

"There is only one course of action to ensure the Parasite does not spread." The deep booming voice of Thel 'Vadam broke out through the din. "The infected worlds must be destroyed."

There was a lack of movement and sound as they realized what that meant. The Arbiter was speaking of bombarding the surface of a planet until it was molten magma. It was a tactic the Covenant were very familiar with, and one the Empire had once been fond of as well.

"This is outrageous!" Sparatus and Tevos simultaneously yelled.

"You can't be serious." Leia chimed in as well. The sheer destruction would be an affront to life.

"We are quite serious." Hood grimly replied.

"We must study this enemy." Valern suggested. "There must be some sort of vaccine or cure-"

"There is no cure, you fool!" The Arbiter shouted. "The only way to stop the Parasite is to remove every trace of their existence."

"But surely, such mindless beasts won't pose a threat-"

"Mindless?" Hood's rebuttal to Tevos was scathing in its disbelief at her stupidity. "The Flood gain the intelligence of every living being they infect. Or how do you think they took over your expedition cruiser?"

There was silence in the wake of that statement as Lord Hood took a moment to collect himself before speaking again. "The Flood are a hive minded alien race hellbent on consuming any life they can find. As they grow, they accumulate more and more biomass until it develops into a central intelligence. A Gravemind."

"And this is where the Parasite becomes truly dangerous." Thel finished, drawing looks of horror and confusion at that statement, considering how bad they already sounded. "The Gravemind contains the accumulated knowledge of everyone the Flood has ever infected, all the way back to the time of the Forerunners."

"The Forerunners?" Leia asked, her eyes narrowing. "You said you didn't know what happened to them."

"We lied." Hood stated grimly. "The Flood tore through the Forerunners, consuming everything they were and turning their very strength against them. The Halo rings? They were their last resort. A series of superweapons that would kill every living being in the galaxy, and after thousands of other plans were tried and failed, they activated the rings."

Horrified mutterings emerged from the delegates present. Some were horrified at the scale of death and destruction, others were accusing the UNSC and Sangheili of hoarding those weapons to use against them, while others still were disbelieving. Leia on the other hand, knew they were telling the truth. She had been on goodwill missions into UNSC and Sangheili space, sometimes with her family, but every time she was there, they could all sense a feeling of death and emptiness in the galaxy, even in spite of that universe's resistance to the Force. It had stretched beyond the conflict of the Human-Covenant war, a Wound in the Force that would never truly fade. They had similar feeling in the Reaper universe, but this just felt so much worse. And now they knew why.

"Oh, the situation is far worse then you can imagine." Everyone turned to the voice as it entered the chambers. Security personnel turned their weapons towards the voice, only to lower them upon seeing who it was. "The Flood have been planning this for far longer than we've been alive."

The Supreme Commander of the Republic walked through the security checkpoint, escorted by a Predator and Samus Aran. No one bothered to stop them, as they still had clear memories about the last time someone had tried. Samus and the Yautja held back at the entrance, while the Supreme Commander stepped into the room, ignoring the fearful security members.

As for the delegates, they were all just shocked that he was here. No one had invited him, having assumed that the Republic's war with the Separatists would keep them too busy to send anyone, at least for the time being. Apparently they were wrong.

"And how could you possibly know all this?" Sparatus demanded.

"Shared intelligence." Another voice emerged from the entrance. "Or did you think we wouldn't notice your little incursion into their universe?"

Security raised their guns at the new voice, and unlike last time, refused to put them down. The Separatist Ruler smirked as he walked in, not even bothering to halt when they called for him to stop. A sniper round impacted the Ruler's head, splattering his brains on the floor.

To the shock and horror of every delegate, he didn't even break stride as his head regenerated from the damage until it looked like he hadn't been shot at all, while all the blood, flesh and grey matter on the floor vanished into the ether.

"Really, that didn't stop him," The Separatist Ruler gestured to his Republic counterpart. "So why did you think it could possibly stop me?"

"What are you doing here?" The Arbiter snapped, drawing his energy sword despite knowing how futile it was.

"Alright, everyone just calm down." The Supreme Commander said. "I invited him here."

"But I thought you two were at war?" Osoba said.

"No point in holding onto bad blood when there are bigger enemies on the horizon." The Separatist Ruler crossed his arms. "Or have you all learned nothing from your own conflicts?"

There were various looks of indignation or embarrasment coming from everyone as they thought back to their own histories. The Reaper war, the Yuuzhan Vong conflict, the Horus Rebellion, the Phazon Crisis and even the Human-Covenant War. All of them had groups refusing to aid even with the looming threat of extinction. Supposedly, nothing would unite mortal foes like a common enemy, but it seemed that many were too stupid to realize even that.

"Blame gets us nowhere." The Supreme Commander said, briefly glaring at his counterpart. "What we need to do is unite our resources against the Flood. That's the only way anyone will survive."

"So, we should just follow you against the Flood?" Valern said. "Give you our fleets and let your throw them away in battle?"

"As opposed to what?" The Separatist Ruler countered. "Fortify your defenses and lock down your own worlds? How well did that work out the last time around? The Flood will drown you in bodies. They take your civilization's strength, technology and resources and they turn it against you. If we don't unite, then the fate the Reapers wanted to give you will look merciful in comparison."

"And why are we just hearing about this now?" Dorvan questioned, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I don't care what you thought would happen if the rest of the multiverse heard about the Flood, we all should've been informed!"

"Look, the fact of the matter is, we're all to blame." The Supreme Commander said, gesturing to the Arbiter and Lord Hood, then to himself and his Separatist counterpart. "We didn't tell the rest of the IDA." He then gestured to the Council. "And they didn't listen to any warnings." Then he gestured to Leia. "And frankly, you all knew there was something missing from the history they were telling, but you never asked. But blaming each other gets us nowhere. If we don't unite now, the Flood will consume everything."

There was a moment of silence as the gathered leaders took this information in. The Supreme Commander, the Separatist Ruler, Arbiter 'Vadam, and Lord Hood, were all willing to do this, and Chief of State Dorvan and Leia Organa Solo looked willing to as well. But the leaders of the Galactic Federation and the Council themselves were still wary of such an idea, which the Separatist Ruler picked up on.

"Or you can all huddle behind your worlds, pretending that the Flood won't notice you, and then inevitably drown in a sea of biomass." He crossed his arms, his glare aimed at the reluctant members of the meeting. "Take your pick."

There was a sigh amongst the Federation and Citadel Council as they briefly convened amongst themselves. Eventually, the two groups stopped debating and offered their support against this threat.

"Now, what's our first step?" Tevos asked.

...

"Well, that could've gone worse." Valern said, to the reluctant agreement of the rest of the Council.

Several hours later, the meeting was over, and the Council had retreated to their own private room. It had been a long meeting, with people throwing arguments and blame at each other while disagreeing about which government does what. Several times, the Republic and Separatist leaders had to unleash their powers in order to restore order.

Eventually, after the capabilities of the Flood had been explained in full (to the initial disbelief of many before more details came to light), the member factions of the IDA had pledged to work together and devote their militaries to eradicating the Parasite. Still, it hadn't been easy to do.

"By the Goddess." Tevos sighed. "I thought that meeting would've ended in a brawl."

"Without our 'guests,'" Osoba started. "It very well might have."

"Indeed." Sparatus nodded. "However, our work is not done yet. If you'll excuse me, I need to go contact my government."

"We will do the same." Valern stated, as he left for his office.

Soon Tevos was left alone in the room, and she sighed, feeling the weight of several centuries experience on her shoulders. From what she had heard and seen about the Flood, it appeared they would be in for a long period of hardship ahead.

Heading to her office in order to contact the Asari Republics, Tevos could only pray that they would live through it.

* * *

**And that's the end of the chapter. Truth be told, I'm not sure how well this one came out, but I just couldn't figure out what more to add to this. Still, I hope it was to everyone's liking regardless.**

**Now, I know this isn't what everyone was expecting, so to make it up to you guys, enjoy this little omake:**

...

"Ah yes, the Flood." Sparatus made his finger quote gesture. "The immortal race of galactic parasites hellbent on consuming all sentient life. We have dismissed this claim."

Sparatus shifted, the green-yellow tentacle he was fused to, retracting itself into the floor, joined by the bodies of Tevos and Valern on their own appendages. No one was there to listen, as the Gravemind had already transformed the Citadel into a Flood Hive.

And all thanks to the Council's ignorance.

...

**Now, I know we all love a good Council bashing, but ultimately, they're not composed of complete idiots, and if they had footage of what the Parasite could do, they would probably take it more seriously.**

**And yeah, I know this chapter wasn't my best. As it turns out, I'm not that great at writing politics.**

**Anyway, if anyone would like to know just what specific event the Council is referencing in the first part, you can read it in the first chapter of my other story, Catalog of War. It details the true first contact between the Flood and the Mass Effect races.**

**Now, this brings me to another chapter idea. I've already written about the start of the Great Flood War. Now, I think I might make a chapter depicting its ending.**

**With all that said, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and reviews are always welcome.**


	17. Agents of SHIELD Aftermath

**Alright, well I've decided to do something a bit different. I'm making an aftermath chapter for a previous chapter, specifically for the Agents of SHIELD chapter. This follows directly after that episode, as SHIELD tries to discover what happens here, mainly because the previous one didn't really have much to do with Agents of SHIELD...**

**I know I said that I was thinking about showing the ending of the Great Flood War, but honestly, I'm not so sure whether or not I should write it. I think it could be better left as more of a background event.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or anything in the MCU.**

* * *

It was briskly cold in the Antarctic. Of course, that was hardly a surprise to any of the SHIELD agents stationed there, but it didn't mean that they enjoyed it. Eric Koenig sighed as he looked around the campsite. He knew exactly why they were here and what they needed to do, but it was still annoying. Couldn't HYDRA have built their super secret base somewhere warmer?

It had been several months since Sokovia had fallen from the sky. Sometime before that, SHIELD had detected massive energy spikes coming from a known HYDRA base in Antarctica, but with the Theta Protocol and the threat of the Inhumans, investigating the signatures had to take a back seat.

Only now, after all these major events, was SHIELD finally investigating. When they first arrived, they found several massive craters in the ground, no doubt whatever remained of the HYDRA base.

Anything useful that might've been salvaged was already gone, no doubt taken by HYDRA retrieval teams. While this was a disappointment for SHIELD, they still needed to figure what exactly happened here, and to that end, Eric had been given a team of scientists and technicians to aid in the process.

They were good, but they were no Fitzsimmons. It had been nearly two weeks now, and finally they were getting results. Eric gathered them here to report their findings, and listened to the report. What they had to say hadn't been what he'd been expecting.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Sir, it appears that the smaller craters were caused by some form of orbital bombardment from an energy weapon." One scientist said. "We're still unsure as to what provoked this attack."

"Alright, we'll deal with what caused that later." Eric said. "What about the larger crater?"

"It appears that it was from the base's reactor going critical." Another scientist explained.

"So, I'm guessing the damage from the bombardment sent the reactor into meltdown?"

"That's what we thought at first as well." Was the reply. "But it appears that the bombardment came afterwards."

"That's odd." Koenig muttered. "I guess someone really wanted to be thorough in destroying this place."

Just then, Eric's watch beeped, indicating it as time for the scheduled report to Coulson. He thanked the scientists and asked them to leave, so he could give Coulson the report in private.

As soon as everyone left the prefabricated building, Eric set up the communication system and requested a direct link to Coulson. It took a few moments; the signal needing to cut through all the interference around the continent, but eventually it made it to the Playground.

"Director."

"Eric, good to see you." Coulson greeted. "I trust things are going well?"

"Well, we've been unable to recover anything from the labs." Koenig replied. "If there was anything, then HYDRA got to it first."

"That's no surprise." The Director sighed. "I wish we could've gotten there earlier, but with everything that happened... Still, any progress in understanding what happened there?"

"Yes sir, we have some evidence." Eric hesitantly said. Coulson immediately picked up on that.

"So, bad news then." He guessed. Eric nodded. "Well, let's hear it."

"Well sir, we've found evidence to suggest that the area was bombed from orbit." He explained, sending over pictures and analysis charts of the craters. "All the blast marks seem to indicate that the attack came from straight up, and the explosive and heat damage indicate it was some form of energy weapon."

"So whatever HYDRA was working on, it drew the attention of aliens?" Coulson asked.

"So it would seem." Eric responded. "But there's another curious detail about all this." He sent another file, showing their findings on the base crater itself. "From what we can tell, the base self-destructed first, and the bombardment came later."

"Hm." Coulson took it all in, carefully looking over the evidence, keeping his face stoic. "So, someone really wanted to make sure HYDRA's work there stayed buried. Any idea as to why?"

"There are theories." Eric admitted. "But without any evidence, all we really have to go on is unsourced speculation."

"What about backup data?" Coulson asked. "Anything offsite that could help you?"

"We did find a small shed where the facility's black box was likely kept." He said. "But when we found it, the entire place had been gutted and any information is gone. Whether it was taken by HYDRA or the aliens, we can't say for sure."

"So do you think you can find anything else?"

"Well, we'll do our best." Eric said. "But considering how late we are to the party, I think we're probably wasting our time."

"Alright." Coulson nodded, trusting his assessment. "Gather any remaining evidence and return to base. I'm not keeping one of my best agents on a wild goose chase."

"Yes sir."

* * *

As soon as the feed cut out, Coulson sat back in his chair and sighed, clasping his real and mechanical hand together. It had been a fairly tough time for SHIELD: with the events of Sokovia and the drama with the Theta Protocol, the conflict with the Inhumans that cost Phil his hand, Simmons going missing inside the Monolith, and now this?

It had been a long exhausting period, and now with May gone, he didn't have anyone he could really talk to about this. Now he knew how Fury must've felt for all these years. This job wasn't easy. He turned back to the door just as it opened, allowing his two requested agents to step through.

"Mack, Skye-"

"Daisy." She corrected, while Mack suppressed a snort.

"Daisy, sorry." Coulson grinned sheepishly. "Still getting used to that."

"You wanted to see us, sir?"

"Yes, I wanted to brief you on what was found at the Antarctic HYDRA base."

"And?" Daisy asked. "What did they find?"

"Well the evidence is inconclusive, but it seems that aliens were involved."

"You think they were studying Inhumans?" Mack said.

"It's a possibility, but I don't think that was the cause." The Director replied. "From what we can tell, orbital bombardment was involved."

"Shit." Mack murmured, putting his hands to his head. Daisy's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, are we looking at another Chitauri-level scenario?" She asked. Coulson shook his head.

"I don't think so. At least not yet." He replied. "It seems that their only target was the HYDRA base. It seems whatever they were working on pissed these aliens off."

"But we don't know if they won't be back." Mack pointed out. Coulson nodded.

"You're right, we don't. Which is why we need the Caterpillar project ready sooner than later."

"We'll keep on that then." Daisy said.

"Good. In the meantime, everything we just discussed stays in this room." Coulson pointed to his desk as he said that. "Are we clear?"

"Yes sir."

* * *

**Alright, I know that ending was rather abrupt, but I wasn't sure where else to go with it. So keep in mind, this takes place after Avengers: Age of Ultron and the Season 2 finale of AoS, but it's still a while before the start of Season 3. Just in case anyone was wondering about the timeline.**

**Also, I was thinking of making at least one more of these aftermath chapters, but I'm wondering if I should make more after that. I'm still undecided about that, so I'd love to hear what you think.**

**With all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.**


End file.
